tibxaxy  of  Che  Chcolojicd  ^^minaxy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

BX  8066  .G6  J6  1901 
Gotwald,  Luther  A.  1833- 

1900. 
Joy  in  the  divine  government 


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Joy  in  the    N^/(1al  %^ 
Divine  Government 


And     Other     Sermons 


Luther  Alexander  A^^otwald,  D.D., 

Late  Professor  of  Practical  Theology,  Wittenberg 
Theological  Seininary,  Springfield,  Ohio 


INTRODUCTION  BY 


Rev.  Prof.  H.  E.  Jacobs,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Professor  of  Systematic  Theology,  Lutheran  Seminary, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Fleming    H.  Revell    Company 

Chicago,    New  York    &  Toronto 
MCMI 


3    ]948 


COPYRIGHT 

I  90  I, 

BY      F  L  E 

M  I 

N  G      H. 

RKVELL 



COMPANY 

PERSONAL. 

The  author  of  these  sermons  had  planned 
for  their  publication  some  considerable  time 
before  his  lamented  death,  Sept.  15,  1900. 

The  cordial  welcome  with  which  his  pre- 
vious volume,  "Sermons  for  Festival  Days," 
was  received,- had  encouraged  him  to  feel  and 
hope  that  a  second  volume  would  accomplish 
good  in  many  places  where  his  voice  could 
never  be  heard. 

His  life-long  and  scholarly  friend,  Prof. 
Henry  Eyster  Jacobs,  contributed  the  accom- 
panying words  of  introduction,  in  accordance 
with  the  author's  request. 

The  title  is  the  author's  own  selection,  and 
well  illustrates  the  spirit  of  joyous  submission 
which  characterized  him  during  his  later  years 
of  suffering  and  affliction.  His  sudden  death 
prevented  the  realization  of  his  cherished  hope 
of  seeing  these  sermons  given  to  the  world. 
But  his  wish  arid  purpose  are  herewith  car- 
ried out  in  their  present  publication ;  so  that 


Personal. 

he  being  dead  may  yet  speak  to  thousands 
through  these  printed  pages,  as  he  already 
addresses  thousands  through  the  immortal  in- 
fluences of  his  consecrated  life,  whether  as 
pastor  or  preacher,  professor  or  friend. 

May  the  Divine  blessing  accompany  this 
volume  in  its  mission  of  inspiration,  convic- 
tion and  consolation  to  the  souls  of  its  readers ! 
May  it  add  new  stars  to  that  faithful  ministry 
which  has  already  been  so  gloriously  crowned  ! 

F.  G.  G. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Numerous  as  are  the  volumes  devoted  to  the 
form  of  religious  literature  to  which  this  vol- 
ume belongs,  there  is  always  place  for  more. 
The  Holy  Scriptures  can  never  be  exhausted, 
and  every  land  and  age  has  its  own  peculiar 
mode  of  re-stating  its  old  truths.  Even  the 
most  familiar  texts  become  fresh  in  the  mouth 
of  a  preacher,  who  actually  writes  and  speaks 
out  of  the  abundance  of  his  heart.  His  great 
difficulty  is  not  to  find  something  to  say,  but  to 
find  the  time  and  opportunities  to  expound  all 
the  fruitful  themes  that  are  ever  crowding 
upon  him  with  their  plea  that  they  be  treated 
in  a  sermon. 

Dr.  Gotwald's  discourses  show  that  his 
heart  was  in  his  calling  as  a  preacher,  and  that 
their  careful  preparation  was  no  drudgery, 
but  a  work  of  delight.  Plain,  practical,  direct, 
forcible,  written  in  a  singularly  simple  and 
chaste  style,  and  without  any  ambition  to  dis- 
play either  learning  or  rhetoric,  they  are  per- 


Introduction. 

vaded  by  a  spirituality  that  is  refreshing  and 
inspiring. 

Clear  and  positive  in  his  convictions,  Dr. 
Gotwald  evades  no  question  because  it  is  con- 
troverted ;  and,  yet,  the  polemical  spirit  no- 
where appears.  He  tries  to  get  at  the  heart 
of  his  text,  and  then  to  carry  it  straight  to  the 
hearts  of  his  hearers. 

There  is  not  a  discourse  in  this  book  that 
the  "common  man"  cannot  understand ;  and 
yet  they  are  far  from  being  superficial.  Though 
|iis  voice  may  be  heard  no  more  in  the  pulpit, 
through  these  sermons  his  influence  will  be 
felt  far  and  wide  in  advancing  the  cause  of 
the  Redeemer,  to  whose  service  his  life  was 
consecrated,  and  whom  he  so  devotedly  served. 

Henry  E.  Jacobs. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  September  27th,  1898. 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  *'-*OK 

Introduction v 

I.     Joy  in  the  Divine  Government          .  i 

Psalm  97:  I. 

II.     The  Testimony  of  Consciousness  .         .  22 
John  9:  25. 

III.  God's  Angels  Meeting  Us  in  the  Way  44 

Genesis  32:  i. 

IV.  Concerning  Our  Temptations         .        .     65 

Matthew  6:  13. 
V.     The  Profitableness  of  Godliness     .         87 

ist  Timothy  4:  8. 
VI.     The  Divine  Law  of  Self-Surrender    .   107 
John  12:  24. 

VII.     Religious  Duty  Better  than  Religious 

Enjoyment         .         .        -         •         .        124 
Matthew  17:  4- 
VIII.     Concerning  Paul's  Thorn      .        .        .148 
2d  Corinthians  12:  7-9. 

IX.     Paul's     Unwavering      Confidence     in 

Christ 168 

2d  Timothy  i:  12. 

X.     An  Uplifted   Saviour  the   Great  At- 
traction         188 

John  12:  32. 
XL     The  Strength  of  Young  Men    .        .       206 

ist  John  2:  14. 

XII.     The  Resurrection  Body  .        .        .230 

ist  Corinthians  15:  35. 

XIII.  The  Character   of   the  Lord's  Supper  250 

(Synodical  Communion  Sermon.) 
ist  Corinthians  10:  16. 

XIV.  Dr.  Martin  Luther  as  a  Christian  .       271 

Hebrews  11:4. 

XV.     The  Reformation  the  Work  of  God    .  291 

Ezekiel  i:  18. 


JOY  IN   THE   DIVINE 
GOVERNMENT. 

TEXT. 

"The  Lord  rcigncfh ;  let  the  cartJi  rejoice." — Ps. 
xcvii.  I. 

That  there  is  a  Divine  Government,  or  a 
Providential  Rnlership.  over  the  universe,  is 
a  fact  made  probable  already  by  reason,  and 
repeatedly  and  fully  declared  by  revelation. 
It  is  a  dictate  already  of  reason  that,  if  God 
alone  could  create  the  universe.  He  also 
alone  is  able  to  uphold,  to  direct  and  to  gov- 
ern what  He  thus  created.  In  other  words, 
the  admission  of  the  doctrine  of  divine  crea- 
tion of  all  things,  logically  necessitates  the 
admission,  also,  of  the  doctrine  of  the  divine 
government  of  all  things ;  declaring  with 
Paul :  "Of  Him,  and  to  Him,  and  through 
Him  are  all  things,  and  by  Him  all  things 
consist." 

There  are  some,  however,  who,  even  whde 
admitting  that  God  may  have  created  the 
universe,  yet  claim  that  He  does  not  now 
I 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

govern  it  personally.  They  maintain  that 
He  has  left  it  to  govern  or  develop  itself. 
This  is  tlie  theory  of  our  modern  skeptical 
evolutionists,  or  materialistic  scientists.  As 
Melanchthon  once  wrote:  "They  think  of 
God  as  a  shipbuilder,  who,  when  he  has  com- 
pleted his  vessel,  launches  it  and  then  leaves 
it."  Or,  to  put  it  into  our  modern  phrase- 
ology, they  say  that  "God  has  placed  tlie 
government  of  the  universe  under  estab- 
lished natural  laws." 

Let  us  not,  however,  in  this  matter,  be  im- 
posed upon  by  a  mere  plausible  phraseology. 
For  what,  after  all,  is  this  something  which 
is  thus  so  learnedly  called  "a  natural  law," 
and  by  which  our  present  materialistic  skep- 
ticism thus  separates  God  from  His  works, 
and  ignores  and  denies  Him  as  the  Providen- 
tial Governor  of  the  universe  which  He  has 
created.  Law  is  not,  in  itself,  a  force.  Law 
is  simply  an  expression  of  the  will  of  the  law- 
giver; is  simply  the  mode  or  manner  in 
which  intelligent  mind  and  power,  acting 
back  of  the  law,  expresses  itself  and  executes 
its  will.     And  so  this  thing  called  "natural 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

law,"  is  not  in  itself  an  independent  and  self 
existent  or  self-executing  power,  apart  from 
God,  but  it  is  simply  God's  established  order 
of  expressing  His  will,  and  of  putting  forth 
His  force  both  in  the  creation  and  govern- 
ment of  the  universe.  There  is,  e.  g.,  what 
we  call  "the  law  of  gravitation."  But  that 
law  is  not  in  itself  a  cause.  It  simply  is  the 
expression  of  a  general  fact.  It  is  not  that 
law  of  gravitation  which  makes  an  apple  fall 
always  downward  instead  of  upward.  It  is 
something  back  of  that  law,  and  mightier 
than  it,  which  causes  it.  The  law  itself,  in- 
stead of  being  an  independent  cause,  is  only 
an  efifect  of  a  cause,  and  that  cause  is  God 
who  has  established  the  law.  God  is  the 
force  acting,  and  what  we  call  the  law  is 
simply  an  expression  of  the  mode  or  man- 
ner in  which,  in  this  especial  respect,  God 
thus  acts. 

And  so  with  regard  to  all  the  so-called 
"natural  laws"  of  the  universe.  They  have 
not  originated  or  established  themselves. 
They  do  not  sustain  or  execute  themselves. 
It  is  not  they  that  are  the  rulers  of  the  uni- 
3 


Joy  in  tlie  Divine  Government. 

verse.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  merely  the 
estabHshed  principles  on  or  by  which  God 
rules  it ;  the  methods  only  in  which  God  ordi- 
narily and  generally  exerts  His  power ;  the 
instruments  or  agencies  simply  by  which 
God  rules.  As  our  text  declares.  "The  Lord 
reigneth."  Not  fate,  not  chance,  not  law, 
but  God,  the  Eternal  First  Cause  and  Up- 
holder of  all  things,  is  on  the  Throne,  and 
it  is  His  sceptre  that  sways  dominion  over 
the  whole  realm  both  of  mind  and  matter. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  teachings  of 
reason  upon  the  subject,  this  truth  of  a 
divine  providence  or  government  over  all 
things  is,  we  are  sure,  clearly  and  repeatedly 
declared  to  us,  in  Scripture.  So  frequently, 
indeed,  does  the  Bible  declare  it,  that,  if 
we  were  to  take  from  it  all  that  it  thus  con- 
tains upon  this  subject  of  God's  providence 
or  government,  the  divine  volume  would  in- 
deed be  very  greatly  abridged,  and  would  be 
an  almost  entnxly  different  book.  Almost 
countless  are  the  passages  in  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  which  assert  and  exhibit  it ;  and 
everywhere  in  this  mspired  volume  is  God 
4 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

declared  to  be  ruling  and  governing  all 
things  according  to  His  will.  He  is  declared 
to  be  the  Preserver  both  of  man  and  beast; 
to  "uphold  all  things  by  the  word  of  His 
power ;"  to  "open  His  hand  and  satisfy  the 
desire  of  every  living  thing;"  to  "give  to  the 
beast  his  food  and  to  the  young  ravens  which 
cry."  We  are  told  that  in  Him  "we  live  and 
move  and  have  our  being ;"  that  by  Him 
"our  steps  are  ordered ;"  that  from  Him 
comes  to  us  "every  good  and  perfect  gift;" 
that  "He  is  the  Governor  among  the  na- 
tions ;"  that  "He  is  the  Lord,  our  God,  and 
His  judgments  are  in  all  the  earth."  We 
read  that  "the  Most  High  ruleth  in  the  king- 
dom of  men,  and  giveth  it  to  whomsoever 
He  will;"  that  "the  Lord  killeth  and  maketh 
alive ;  He  bringeth  down  to  the  grave  and 
bringeth  up ;  He  maketh  poor  and  maketh 
rich ;"  that  "promotion  cometh  neither  from 
the  west  nor  from  the  south,  but  God  is  the 
Judge ;  He  putteth  down  one,  and  setteth  up 
another ;"  that  "He  notes  'the  sparrow's  fall,' 
and  that  He  has  numbered  the  very  hairs  of 
every  head." 

5 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

That  ''the  Lord  reigns"  is  not,  then,  a 
mere  probabiHty  of  reason,  but  it  is  an  ab- 
solute certainty,  declared  most  frequently  by 
God  Himself  in  His  own  infallible  word. 

He,  therefore,  who  doubts  or  denies  this 
doctrine  or  fact  of  such  divine  providence  or 
government  must  also,  if  he  would  be  con- 
sistent, doubt  and  deny  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves, which  teach  it;  for  no  truth  is  more 
clearly  and  positively  assumed  and  declared 
everywhere  throughout  this  Word  of  God 
:han  is  this  truth :    "The  Lord  reigneth." 

Admitting  then  the  fact  of  this  divine  gov- 
ernment or  providence  over  the  universe,  we 
may  next  properly  inquire : 

WHAT   IS  THE   CHARACTER  OF   IT? 

From  what  we  know  of  the  character  of 
God,  as  He  has  revealed  Himself  to  us,  both 
in  conscience  and  in  His  Word,  we  can  read- 
ily infer  and  know  what  the  character  of  His 
.government  is.  The  personal  character  of  a 
king  determines  the  character  of  his  king- 
dom, and  of  a  law-giver  the  character  of  the 
laws  which  he  enacts.  And  so  God's  char- 
acter decides  what  is  and  must  be  the  char- 
6 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

acter  of  the  providence  or  government  which 
He  exercises. 

I.  God,  first,  is  a  God  of  infinite  wis- 
dom :  His  government  therefore  is  carried 
on,  we  must  assume,  by  infinite  wisdom. 

In  proof  of  the  infinite  wisdom  of  God,  the 
Scriptures  tell  us  that  past,  present,  and  fu- 
ture are  all  constantly  open  before  Him ;  that 
He  sees  the  end  of  all  things  as  well  as  the 
beginning;  that  He  foreknows  every  occur- 
rence, contingency,  possibility  in  all  time  and 
eternity.  As  in  an  ever  present  picture, 
everything  that  ever  has  occurred,  or  does 
now  occur,  or  will  occur,  lies  manifest  to 
His  sight.  The  minutest  object,  as  well  as 
the  greatest,  the  least  important  event  as  well 
as  the  most  important,  the  obscurest  person 
as  well  as  the  most  famous ;  all  are  alike 
known  to  Him. 

Thus  infinite  in  wisdom  He  always  knows 
also  what  is  the  best;  the  best  for  His  own 
glory,  the  best  for  the  happiness  and  good  of 
all  His  creatures,  the  best  ends  at  which  to 
aim,  the  best  means  to  employ,  the  best  time 
in  which  to  act,  the  best  choice  to  make. 
7 


Jov  in  the  Di\ine  Cio\ernment. 

Guided  by  His  unerring  wisdom.  He  knows 
when  to  give  and  when  to  withhold,  when 
to  check  and  when  to  impel,  when  to  enrich 
and  when  to  impoverish,  when  to  create  and 
when  to  destroy.  He  knows  all  things.  His 
wisdom  is  all-embracing  and  infinite.  He  is 
the  Omniscient  God.  He  cannot,  therefore, 
possibly,  in  anything,  ever  fall  into  error  or 
be  guilty  of  the  slightest  mistake. 

And  this,  therefore,  is  also.  I  now  add. 
the  character  of  His  government.  It  cannot 
be  otherwise.  God.  being  wdiat  He  is.  in- 
finite in  wisdom.  His  government  is  also 
based  upon  infinite  wisdom,  and  is  conducted 
upon  tlie  most  accurate  and  minute  divine 
intelligence,  a  government  in  which  all 
things  are  done  wisely  and  well,  and  in  tlie 
best  possible  way  both  for  His  glory  and 
the  highest  good  of  His  creatures. 

H.     This  divine  gon'ernment   is  also  .\ 

(;0VERNMENT  OF   INFINITE  POWER:  FOR   GoD   IS 

THE  Almighty  or  Omnipotent  God. 

He  not  only  knows  all  things,  but  He  has 
the  ability  also  to  do  all  things.  "All  things 
are   possible   with    God."   says    our    Saviour. 


Toy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Whatever  He  vviUs  to  do.  that  He  possesses 
the  might  to  do.  All  agencies  are  under  His 
control,  and  subject  to  His  bidding;  and  all 
can  be  wheeled  by  Him,  at  His  pleasure,  into 
His  service,  and  made  to  subserve  His  pur- 
poses. At  any  point  in  the  universe,  upon 
any  being,  or  upon  any  order  of  beings,  at 
any  Hnk  in  the  great  chain  of  cause  and  ef- 
fect, either  through  the  agency  of  created  be- 
ings, such  as  man,  angels,  devils,  by  nations 
or  by  individuals,  by  Church  or  by  State,  by 
mind  or  matter,  or  else  directly,  by  His  own 
agency  alone,  without  the  employment  of 
any  secondary  causes,  He  can  bring  His 
divine  power  to  bear,  and  can  accomplish 
whatsoever  He  will. 

His  government,  therefore,  is  a  mighty 
government ;  mighty  to  enforce  its  authority, 
to  exact  its  demands,  to  accomplish  its  ends, 
to  overthrow  all  opposition  to  it.  to  punish 
and  destroy  its  foes,  and  to  deliver  and  help 
and  save  its  friends.  All  power  is  His  in 
heaven,  earth,  and  hell,  and  all  things  are 
under  the  sway  of  His  sceptre  and  subject  to 
His  will.     But 

9 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 
III.     This  divine  government  must  also, 

WE    MAY    notice  THIRDLY,    BE   A    GOVERNMENT 
OF  PATIENCE  AND  LOVE  :  FOR  GoD  IS  "tHE  GoD 

OF  Patience"  and  ''God  of  Love." 

Under  this  divine  government  beings  exist 
and  occurrences  are  allowed  which  are  di- 
rectly opposed  to  God,  and  we  sometimes 
are  led  to  ask :  Why,  if  the  Lord  reigneth, 
are  they  allowed?  Satan,  e.  g.,  exists.  If 
"the  Lord  reigns,"  why  is  he  allowed  to 
exist?  Sin  exists.  Why?  Injustice,  wrong, 
oppression,  cruelty,  fraud,  profanity,  murder, 
crimes  of  every  kind,  exist.  Why?  If  "the 
Lord  reigns,"  if  there  be  a  moral  govern- 
ment over  man,  if  God  has  all  wisdom  so  that 
He  knows  of  the  existence  of  all  this  sin,  and 
if  He  has  all  power  so  that  He  could,  in  a 
moment,  destroy  sinners  and  banish  sin  from 
the  universe,  why,  as  a  holy  God,  as  He  is, 
does  He  not,  also,  at  once  do  so?  Why  is 
sin  thus  allowed  under  the  government  of  a 
divine  and  holy  being  such  as  God  is? 

And  there  are  sorrow  and  suffering  also 
everywhere  in  the  world.  If  the  Lord  reign- 
eth, why  do  they  exist?    Why  does  He  not 

10 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

banish  them?  Why,  especially,  are  not  the 
righteous,  His  own  people,  exempted  from 
them?  Has  He  no  knowledge  of  their  sor- 
rows and  sufferings?  Yes,  of  every  one  of 
them.  Has  He  not  the  power  to  exempt 
and  relieve  them  from  them?  Yes,  with  all 
ease  He  could  do  it.  And  does  He  not  care 
for  them?  does  He  not  love  them?  does  He 
not  wish  them  happiness?  O,  yes,  infinitely 
does  He  thus  love  and  care  for  them.  But 
why  then,  I  repeat,  do  they  exist?  Why  is 
sin  here?    Why  sorrow?    Why  suffering? 

Such  questions  are  easily  asked;  and  they 
are  very  deep  questions,  and  are  very  hard 
to  answer.  For  remember  it  is  God's  gov- 
ernment of  which  we  are  speaking.  And 
what  are  we  that  we  should  expect  to  fathom 
and  comprehend  fully  His  deep  counsels,  His 
infinite  vision  and  plans? 

But  this  much,  from  our  knowledge  of  His 
character,  we  may  and  do  know,  whether  we 
know  why  they  exist  or  not :  viz.,  that  neither 
sin  nor  suffering  would  exist  under  the  moral 
government  of  such  a  Being  as  God  if  it  were 
not  best,  for  His  glory  and  for  the  highest 


Joy  in  the  Oixine  ( joNeniincut. 

ultimate  happiness  of  His  creatures  that  they 
should  exist.  Divine  Love,  we  may  feel  sure, 
is  the  moral  background  of  all  this  dark 
picture  of  sin  and  suffering"  in  the  universe ; 
the  key  that  explains  these  mysteries  of  the 
moral  government  of  a  holy  and  benevolent 
Jehovah. 

Not.  therefore,  because  God  has  no  power 
to  banish  them,  not  because  He  is  indififerent 
to  their  existence  do  Satan,  sin  and  suffering 
exist.  But  they  exist  because  oxw  human 
race  is  now,  here  in  this  life,  in  a  probation- 
ary state,  in  a  state  of  moral  test  or  trial, 
in  a  condition  of  moral  discipline  and  culture 
and  purification  for  a  better  and  an  eternal 
life  hereafter.  And  these  are  the  agencies 
which  God  employs  to  carry  on  this  proba- 
tionary state,  and  under  it  to  evolve  and  exe- 
cute His  own  wise  and  eternal  counsels. 

But  this,  I  repeat,  we  may.  from  our  knowl- 
edge of  His  character,  be  sure  of :  that  God 
in  love  rules  the  universe,  and  that  whatever 
physical  or  moral  evil  exists  in  this  world  of 
ours  exists  for  wise  and  benevolent  purposes, 
and  will  all  be  overruled  and  used  for  the  ul- 

12 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

timate  happiness  of  the  largest  number.  And 
this  is  why  even  His  own  children  are  not 
exempt  from  suffering.  It  is  just  because  of 
His  love  for  them  that  He  does  not  exempt 
them.  The  sorrows,  the  trials,  the  sufferings, 
the  tears,  and  the  heartaches  which  thus,  un- 
der His  government,  come  upon  His  chil- 
dren have  rich  divine  blessings  in  them,  work 
together  for  their  spiritual  and  eternal  good, 
purify  their  characters,  fit  them  for  heaven, 
and  are  the  means  which  He  employs  to 
bring  them,  at  last,  to  that  blessed  life  be- 
yond the  present  where  sorrow  and  suffering 
shall  be  forever  unknown.  Even  in  the  dark- 
est and  most  painful  dealings  of  God  with 
His  people,  it  is  still  in  love  He  deals  with 
them.  As  Paul  writes:  "Whom  the  Lord 
loveth  He  chasteneth,  and  correcteth  every 
son  whom  He  receiveth."  He  causes  "all 
things  to  work  together  for  good  to  them  that 
love  Him  and  are  the  called  according  to  His 
purpose."     Tn  everything  there  is  love. 

"Even  the  hour  that  darkest  seemeth. 
Does  His  changeless  goodness  prove; 
13 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

From  the  gloom  His  brightness  streameth, 
God  is  Wisdom,  God  is  Love." 

IV.     This  divine  government,  I  note  yet 

IN  THE  FOURTH  PLACE,  IS  A  UNIVERSAL  AND  AN 
ALL  -  EMBRACING  GOVERNMENT,  EXTENDING  TO 
EVERY  POSSIBLE  OBJECT  AND  BEING  :  FOR  GoD  IS 

AN  Omnipresent  God. 

It  extends  to  all  worlds ;  to  every  star  and 
planet  and  sun.  It  embraces  all  beings;  an- 
gels, archangels,  redeemed  spirits,  devils,  lost 
souls  in  hell,  every  human  being  on  earth, 
every  beast  and  bird  and  insect  and  worm 
on  land,  every  fish  of  the  sea.  It  includes 
under  its  sway  every  event ;  the  rise  and  fall 
of  empires,  the  history  of  nations,  the  rav- 
ages of  war.  the  sweep  of  the  pestilence,  the 
growth  or  failure  of  harvests,  the  discoveries, 
arts,  inventions,  commerce  of  the  world,  the 
flight  of  a  comet,  the  fall  of  the  raindrop  or 
flake  of  snow ;  all  are  comprehended  in  and 
are  the  result  of  this  universal  government 
or  providence  of  God. 

And  not  to  each  human  being  only,  but  to 
every  particular  experience,  occurrence,  and 
event  in  the  history  of  that  being  does  this 
14 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

divine  government  also  extend.  Nothing,  re- 
lating to  any  one  of  us,  no  matter  how  triv- 
ial, is  unembraced  in  God's  providence  over 
us.  All  things  enter  into  His  divine  plans 
concerning  us ;  are  links  in  the  chain  of 
causes  with  which  He  is  working  out  our 
destiny ;  means  by  which  He  is  seeking  to 
draw  and  hold  us  to  Himself,  to  chasten  and 
purify  our  characters,  to  guide  us  through 
life,  and  bring  us  finally  to  the  bliss  of  the 
heavenly  life.  Our  birth,  our  surroundings, 
our  experiences,  our  circumstances,  our 
friends  or  enemies,  our  wealth  or  poverty, 
our  prosperity  or  adversity,  our  sickness  or 
health,  our  joy  or  sorrow,  our  life  or  death, 
God's  hand  is  in  them  all.  "The  Lord  reign- 
eth"  may  be  said  concerning  them  all.  All 
are  parts  of  His  providential  plan,  and  are 
embraced  under  His  government  over  us. 
"He  knows  our  downsitting  and  our  upris- 
ing; He  understands  our  thoughts  afar  off; 
He  compasses  our  path  and  our  lying  down ; 
He  is  acquainted  with  all  our  ways." 

Men  talk  very  foolishly  when  they  say  that 
they  believe  in  a  general  providence,  but  not 
15 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

in  a  particular  or  special  providence.  There 
can  be  no  general  providence  without  a  par- 
ticular one  making-  up  the  general ;  just  as 
there  can  be  no  whole  without  all  the  parts, 
no  chain  without  all  the  links  composing  the 
chain,  no  ocean  without  all  the  drops  that 
make  up  the  ocean.  The  seemingly  small 
and  insignificant  things  in  a  man's  life  are 
often  the  hinges  upon  whicli  his  very  destiny, 
for  both  time  and  eternity,  turns.  Mere 
trifles  seemingly  have  often  been  the  occa- 
sions or  causes  of  some  of  the  greatest  revo- 
lutions both  in  Church  and  State.  Could 
there  be  a  providence  in  the  one  without  a 
providence  also  in  the  other?  A  providence 
in  the  result  and  yet  none  in  the  causes  and 
means  producing  the  result?  A  providence 
in  the  end  and  yet  none  in  the  beginning? 
Folly !  A  general  providence  can,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  only  exist  through  an  all- 
embracing  particular  providence.  And  we 
are  shut  up  to  believe  either  in  such  particu- 
lar providence  or  believe  in  no  providence  at 
all.  Denying  God's  government  in  all  things, 
we  must  deny  it  in  anything ;  and  we  must 
i6 


joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

regard  ourselves,  and  the  universe,  as  with- 
out any  thought  or  care  in  the  divine  mind 
at  all. 

But  let  us  now  yet  especially  notice,  in 
conclusion,  the  Psalmist's  exhortation,  here 
in  our  text,  based  upon  this  fact  that  "the 
Lord  thus  reigneth." 

He  bids  us  rejoice  in  it.     "The  Lord,"  he 
exclaims,  "reigneth."'  Hence,  because  of  this, 
"let  the  earth  rejoice,   let  the   multitude   of 
isles  be  glad  thereof."     Let  there,  he  means, 
be   universal  joy  in   this   fact   of  the    divine 
government.     If  God-  reigns,   then  there  is 
room  and  reason  to  rejoice.     Let   men  re- 
joice   that    the    universe    is    not    under    the 
reign  of  chance,   or   fate,   or  mere  cold  law, 
but  that   the   Lord   reigneth,   that   God  is   on 
the  throne;  a  God  of  infinite  wisdom,  power, 
love,   a   God   everywhere   present,   and   doing 
all  things   for  His  glory   and   His   creatures' 
good.      Let    every    flower    that    blooms    re- 
joice,   for    it    is    He    that    arrays    it    in    its 
glory.      Let     all     the     beasts     of     the     field 
rejoice,    for     it    is    He    that    giveth    them 
their  food.     Let  the  birds  of  the  air  rejoice, 
17 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

for  He  careth  for  them.  Let  sun,  moon  and 
stars  rejoice,  for  it  is  He  that  holds  them  in 
safety  in  their  orbits  and  guides  them  in  their 
courses.  Let  the  earth  rejoice,  for  it  is  He 
that  hath  made  it  and  who  upholdeth  it.  Let 
the  nations  rejoice,  for  He  is  controlhng  and 
governing  them.  Let  the  Church  rejoice,  for 
He  has  her  in  His  heart,  and  holds  over  her 
His  ever-protecting  arm.  And  even  let  sin- 
ners rejoice,  for  it  is  because  God  is  what  He 
is,  the  God  of  Patience  and  of  Love,  and  be- 
cause His  government  is  what  it  is,  that  they 
still  are  spared  as  they  are,  and  are  dealt  with 
as  patiently  as  they  are.  And  yet  let  them 
not  presume.  Let  them  not  harden  them- 
selves under  this  divine  leniency.  God's  gov- 
ernment, as  we  have  seen,  is  one,  also,  of 
power.  There  is  retribution  and  wrath  in 
it,  at  last,  as  well  as  love.  Let  them  rejoice 
then  that  God  has  spared  them  as  He  has, 
that  He  is  Love,  that  He  has  provided  them 
a  Saviour,  that  He  oflfers  them  pardon,  that 
He  still  waits  to  save  them,  and  joyfully  let 
them  accept  the  salvation  He  offers.  For 
let  them  know  that  this  love  of  God  if  per- 
i8 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

sistently  rejected  will  change  into  eternal 
divine  anger,  and  all  this  divine  power,  now 
put  forth  to  save  them,  will  be  employed  to 
punish  and  eternally  destroy  them.  Espe- 
cially let  the  righteous,  however,  rejoice  that 
God  is  on  the  throne.  Their  Father  holds 
the  reins  of  universal  rule.  They  are  safe, 
therefore,  under  His  government.  No 
weapon  formed  against  them  can  prosper; 
no  enemy  can  destroy  them ;  no  power  can 
pluck  them  out  of  His  hands  or  separate 
them  from  Him.  The  good  work  He  has 
begun  within  them  He  will  perfect.  They 
are  dear  to  Him  as  the  apple  of  His  eye. 
He  allows  sorrow,  it  is  true,  to  come  upon 
them,  but  it  is  always  allowed  only  in  love ; 
is  always  sent  only  to  purify  and  bless  them. 
He  sanctifies  also  their  joy  to  them.  In  every 
experience  of  their  life  He  leads,  guides, 
strengthens,  helps,  comforts  them.  He  is 
their  God.  their  loving  Father.  Let  the 
righteous  therefore  rejoice.  For  if  God  be 
for  them,  who  can  be  against  them? 

And  thus  also  let  the  Church  rejoice  that 
God  reigns.  There  are  times  when  evil  seems 
19 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

to  be  getting  the  upper  hand  in  the  world, 
when  the  devil  appears  to  be  getting  the  ad- 
vantage of  God,  when  the  cause  of  holiness 
and  truth  seems  to  be  losing  ground,  when 
the  Kingdom  of  Christ  appears  to  be  suffer- 
ing loss  and  going  down  before  the  attacks 
upon  it  of  the  kingdom  of  Satan.  But  let  not 
the  Church  lose  faith.  God  is  on  the  throne. 
He  holds  the  reins  in  His  hands,  and  He 
will  not  let  them  go.  He  will  cause  all  the 
wrath  of  man  to  praise  Him.  Above  all  this 
din  and  turmoil  and  strife  and  opposition  and 
sin,  sits  God  as  the  Omnipotent  One,  carry- 
ing out  quietly  His  eternal  plan  with  regard 
to  our  earth  and  man,  and  executing  each 
moment  His  purposes  especially  concerning 
His  Church  and  the  Kingdom  of  His  divine 
Son,  Jesus  Christ. 

Be  glad,  therefore,  at  all  time,  O  Church 
<;f  Christ,  in  the  consciousness  of  the  love  for 
thee  and  providence  over  thee  of  thy  cove- 
nant-keeping God.  In  His  hands  thou  art 
always  safe.  With  Him  as  thy  protector, 
thou  hast  nothing  to  fear  even  in  the  darkest 
hour.  "The  Lord  reigneth ;  let  the  earth  re- 
20 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

joice ;  let  the  multitude  of  isles  he  glad 
thereof."  "And  I  heard  as  it  were  the  voice 
of  a  great  multitude,  and  as  the  voice  of 
many  waters,  and  as  the  voice  of  mighty 
thunderings,  saying:  "Alleluia;  for  the 
Lord  Omnipotent  reigneth." 


THE  TESTIMONY  OF 
CONSCIOUSNESS. 

TEXT. 

"He  Lmsz*.'crcd  and  said:  ll'lwtlicr  He  be  a  sinner 
or  no  I  kiiozi'  not.  One  thing  I  know:  That,  zvhereas 
I  ziias  blind,  non'  I  see." — John  ix.   25. 

Our  text  is  the  declaration,  on  the  part  of 
the  man  who  had  been  bhnd  but  to  whom 
the  Saviour  gave  sight,  of  his  consciousness, 
or  personal  assurance,  that  such  a  miracle 
had  been  wrought  upon  him  and  that  he 
now  actually  did  see.  Two  things,  beyond  a 
doubt,  he  knew,  viz. :  that  once  he  was  blind, 
and  that  now  he  could  see.  There  were  some 
things  connected  both  with  his  past  blindness 
and  with  his  present  sight  which  he  did  not, 
and  could  not,  understand ;  but,  with  regard 
to  the  fact  of  each,  he  was  positively  and  ab- 
solutely certain ;  he  knew  that  once  he  could 
not  see,  and  he  knew  that  now  he  could  see. 
Hence,  in  answer  to  all  the  cavils  of  the 
enemies  of  Jesus,  and  in  answer  to  all  his 
own  doubts  concerning  him,  and  in  answer 
22 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

to  all  the  questionings  which  arose  in  his 
mind  concerning  the  nature  of  the  miracle, 
or  how  Jesus  wrought  it,  he  fell  back  simply 
on  the  facts,  on  what  he  knew,  in  his  per- 
sonal consciousness,  to  be  facts,  and  said : 
"One  thing  I  know,  that,  whereas  I  was 
blind,  now  I  see." 

This  assurance  of  this  healed  blind  man 
of  the  reality  of  his  cure,  or  this  certainty 
in  his  own  personal  consciousness  of  the 
change  which  had  been  wrought  by  Christ 
upon  him.  I  wish  to  use,  today,  as  an  illus- 
tration of  what  may  be  called:  "The  Testi- 
mony of  Consciousness  to  our  Personal  Ac- 
ceptance with  God  and  our  Heirship, 
through  Jesus  Christ,  to  Eternal  Life." 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  Personal  Chris- 
tian Assurance  within  ourselves  that  we  are 
no  longer  in  a  State  of  Nature  and  Moral 
Death,  but  that  we  have  been  spiritually  re- 
newed, and  are  now  in  a  State  of  Grace,  and 
are  Heirs,  therefore,  of  Everlasting  Life. 
With  this  healed  blind  man,  speaking  of  our 
changed  spiritual  state,  we  can  say:  "One 
thing  I  know :  that,  whereas  I  was  blind,  now 
23 


Joy  in  the  Divine  (lovernment. 

I  see."  It  is  the  testimony  of  our  individual 
consciousness  to  our  own  renewed  spiritual 
state. 

Let  us  carefully  together,  today,  consider 
this  subject,  and,  for  our  instruction  and 
spiritual  benefit,  learn  from  it  all  that  we 
possibly  can. 

My  proposition  is  that  all  real  Believers 
in  the  Truth  of  God's  Word,  and  all  who 
truly,  in  an  Evangelical  sense,  do  believe  in 
Christ  Jesus,  the  Saviour  who  is  offered  to 
them  in  that  Word,  may  also  have  within 
themselves,  in  their  own  personal  conscious- 
ness, the  assurance  that  they  have  thus  be- 
lieved, that  what  the  Word  of  God  declares 
is  true,  and  that  the  Saviour  who  is  there  of- 
fered is,  indeed,  all  that  He  is  there  declared 
to  be,  and  that,  because  of  their  trust  in  Him, 
they  are  in  a  pardoned  and  saved  state  with 
God. 

In  considering  this  Proposition,  let  us  en- 
deavor 

I.    To  PROVE  IT. 
II.    To  GU.\RD  IT  AGAINST  ERROR;   AND 
III.    To  SHOW  ITS  GREAT  VALUE. 

24 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

I.  The  fact  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
Personal  Assurance  of  Acceptance  with  God, 
can  scarcely,  I  think,  be  doubted  by  any  one 
who  really  receives  the  Scriptures.  The  con- 
sciousness of  men  is  constantly,  in  Scripture, 
appealed  to  for  Evidence  of  the  Truth  of 
God's  Word,  and  especially  of  the  certainty 
of  their  own  justified  relations  to  God. 

Abel  ''obtained  witness/'  we  read,  "that  he 
was  rig-hteous,  God  testifying-  of  his  gifts." 
Enoch  walked  with  God,  and,  before  his 
translation,  he  had  this  testimony  that  he 
pleased  God.  Noah  also  had  divine  testi- 
mony of  his  acceptance :  "Thee  have  I  seen 
righteous  before  me  in  this  generation,"  said 
God  to  him.  Abraham  was  called  "the 
Friend  of  God."  Job  knew  that  his  Re- 
deemer lived,  and  that  he  should  see  him. 
Moses  spoke  face  to  face  with  God.  David 
gives  repeated  evidence,  in  his  Psalms,  of 
his  consciousness  that  God  was  his  portion. 
Isaiah  sings :  "O  Lord,  I  will  praise  Thee ; 
though  Thou  wast  angry  with  me,  Thine 
anger  is  turned  away,  and  Thou  comfortest 
me." 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

And,  in  the  New  Testament,  Saints  are 
described  as  being-  "filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  as  rejoicing  with  joy  unspeakable 
and  full  of  g-lory."  Jesus  says :  "My  peace 
I  give  unto  you."  "When  He  the  Comforter 
is  come  He  will  lead  you  into  all  Truth ;  for 
He  shall  receive  of  mine  and  shall  show  it 
unto  you."  Jesus  also  said  to  Peter:  "Lov- 
est  thou  me?"  a  most  direct  address  to 
Peter's  own  inner  spirit  for  the  Evidence  or 
for  Proof  of  His  love.  And  so,  right  here 
in  the  narrative  of  the  cure  of  the  blind  man, 
we  find  the  Saviour  making  an  immediate 
appeal  to  the  man's  own  consciousness,  to 
his  own  knowledge  of  the  state  of  his  own 
heart  in  relation  to  Christ,  asking  him,  as 
He  did :  "Dost  thou  believe  on  the  Son  of 
God?"  And  this  was  frequently  done  in  the 
Ministry  of  Our  Saviour.  Jesus  frequently 
thus  threw  men  within  and  back  on  them- 
selves, and  put  their  own  consciousness  on 
the  stand  to  witness  with  reg-ard  to  Him- 
self and  their  relations  to  Him. 

And  how  repeated  and  positive  the  decla- 
rations also  of  Scripture  upon  tliis  point ! 
26 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

How  often,  e.  g.,  the  Sacred  Writers,  speak- 
ing evidently  out  of  their  own  experience, 
their  own  inner  consciousness,  use  the  ex- 
pression :  "I  know,"  "we  know,"  "we  are 
persuaded,"  "we  are  sure." 

Take,  e.  g.,  such  passages  as  these:  "We 
know  that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto 
Hfe ;"  "I  know  whom  I  have  beHeved,  and 
am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that 
which  I  have  committed  unto  Him  against 
that  day;"  "Hereby  know  we  that  we  dwell 
in  Him,  and  He  in  us,  and  His  love  is  per- 
fected in  us ;"  "The  Spirit  itself  beareth  wit- 
ness with  our  spirit  that  we  are  the  children 
of  God,  and  if  children  then  heirs ;  heirs  of 
God  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ." 

And  so  in  many  other  passages.  There  is 
everywhere  a  recognition  of  this  Voice  with- 
in ;  this  M^itness  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  the 
Truth  and  Reality  of  Religion,  in  the  Souls 
of  men ;  in  a  word,  of  the  Testimony  of  Ex- 
perience, of  men's  own  consciousness  that 
Christianity  is  true,  and  that  they  are,  or 
are  not,  the  Children  of  God. 

And,  besides,  there  are  hundreds  and 
27 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

thousands  of  Christians,  whose  testimony  is 
in  all  respects  worthy  of  fullest  credence, 
who  possess  this  Assurance ;  who,  by  the 
Witness  of  the  Spirit  within  their  hearts, 
know  that  they  are  the  Children  of  God ; 
whose  own  Consciousness  bears  witness  that 
Christianity  is  true,  and  that  they  themselves 
have  been  born  of  God  and  are  heirs  of 
heaven ;  who  with  the  blind  man  of  the  text 
can  say :  "One  thing"  I  know,  that,  whereas 
I  was  blind,  now  I  see." 

The  fact,  therefore.  I  repeat,  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  Christian  Assurance,  based 
upon  personal  religious  experience ;  a  Wit- 
ness of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  inner  spirit  or 
soul  of  the  renewed  man;  a  testimony  in  the 
believer's  individual  consciousness  of  the 
truth  as  it  is  in  Christ;  all  this,  I  say,  can- 
not be  denied.  It  is  true.  God's  Word  de- 
clares it.  Christian  Testimon}^  which  can- 
not reasonably  be  doubted,  confirms  it. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  now 

II.  Carefully  to  guard  this  Doctrine  of  the 
inner  Witness  of  the  Spirit,  or  of  the  Testi- 
mony of  our  own  Consciousness,  against  the 
28 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

gross   Errors    and   Abuses   to   which     it     is 
liable. 

I  need  scarcely  say  that  there  is,  in  this 
whole  matter  of  the  inner  Witness  of  the 
Spirit,  the  very  greatest  danger  of  decep- 
tion. Many,  indeed,  are,  in  respect  to  it,  very 
greatly  deceived.  Much  is  received  and  be- 
lieved to  be  the  suggestion  and  the  testimony 
of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  in  men's  hearts,  which 
is  nothing  more  than  their  own  mere  ex- 
cited fancy,  or  carnal  imaginings,  and  which, 
indeed,  is  often  the  wicked  and  foul  sugges- 
tions even  of  Satan  himself.  Some  of  the 
most  shocking  immoralities,  some  of  the 
most  revolting  crimes,  some  of  the  most 
cruel  deeds  that  have  ever  darkened  the 
pages  of  History,  have  been  committed  in 
the  name  of  Religion,  and  were  committed 
ostensibly  or  professedly  under  the  sugges- 
tion or  impulse  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Every- 
one, at  all  acquainted  with  History,  well 
knows  this.  The  dreadful  horrors  of  the  In- 
quisition ;  the  shocking  lewdness  and  im- 
morality of  the  Fanatics,  during  the  Period 
of  the  Reformation ;  the  cruel  burning  of  men 
29 


Jo\^  in  tlie  Divine  Government. 

and  women,  and  even  little  children,  as 
witches ;  all  these  things  have  been  done,  and 
often  sincerely,  in  the  name  of  Religion  and 
of  Christianity,  and,  as  men  supposed,  in 
obedience  to  the  inner  moving  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Jesus  Hinlself  says :  "They  shall 
put  you  out  of  the  Synagogues ;  yea,  the 
time  Cometh  that  whosoever  killeth  will 
think  that  he  doeth  God's  service."  And 
Paul,  concerning  the  Jews,  says:  "I  bear 
them  record  that  they  have  a  zeal  for  God, 
but   not   according   to   knowledge." 

There  is  then,  I  repeat,  danger  of  decep- 
tion in  this  whole  matter;  and  a  man's  feel- 
ings, his  spirit  within  him.  his  consciousness, 
may  tell  him  he  is  a  Christian,  a  Child  of 
God.  and  that  he  is  doing  God's  service ; 
and  he  may  even  have,  at  times,  the  high- 
est kinds  of  so-called  religious  raptures  and 
ecstasies,  and  swoons,  and  visions :  there 
may,  I  say,  be  an  inner  witness,  an  internal 
testimony  or  consciousness  of  all  this,  and 
yet  in  it  all  there  may  not  be  the  first  particle 
of  the  work  or  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  man's  heart  may,  all  the  time,  still  be  un- 
30 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

renewed,  and  he  may  still  be  in  his  sins,  and 
on  the  way  to  Eternal  Death. 

The  question,  then,  may  well  be  asked: 
—What  constitutes  a  genuine  inner  Wit- 
ness? How  does  the  Holy  Spirit  bear  to 
the  Soul  this  inner  Testimony,  this  self-au- 
thenticating Evidence,  this  Consciousness, 
amounting  to  Assurance,  of  which  the  Scrip- 
tures so  often  speak,  that  we  are  the  Children 
of  God:  "new  creatures  in  Christ  Jesus," 
really  born  anew  into  the  Kingdom  of 
Grace?  How?  What  are  the  "tests"  by 
which  I  may  safely  know  that  I  am  not  de- 
ceived, and  that  it  is  no  false  voice,  but  the 
real  and  true  voice  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  in 
my  soul,  which  is  thus  speaking  "peace"  to 
me?     In  answer,  I  reply: — 

a.  That  this  "Testimony"  or  "Assurance," 
when  truly  that  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  always 
imparted  or  borne  to  the  soul  in  connection 
with  the  Word  of  God  ;  i.  e.,  it  comes  from 
faith  in  the  Word  of  God. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  the  direct  or  im- 
mediate witnessing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  apart 
from,  and  without  the  medium  and  use  of, 
31 


Joy  in  the  Divine  (Government. 

"the  Word ;"  but  always  the  Spirit  bears 
witness  through  or  by  the  Word.  In  all  His 
operations  upon  the  soul  He  thus  acts 
through  the  instrumentality  or  agency  of  the 
Word  or  Truth.  By  the  Word  (and  Sacra- 
ment, or  Word  in  connection  with  the  Wa- 
ter) He  regenerates.  "Born  of  water  and 
the  Spirit."  "Being  born  again,  not  of  cor- 
ruptible seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  by  the 
Word  of  God,  which  liveth  and  abideth  for- 
ever." By  the  Word,  also,  the  Holy  Ghost 
sanctifies.  "Sanctify  them,"  prayed  the  Sav- 
iour, "by  the  Truth :  Thy  Word  is  Truth." 
And  thus  also  by  this  written  Word  of  God, 
the  Word  which  the  Holy  Spirit  Himself  in- 
spired, does  the  Holy  Spirit  bear  witness  or 
assurance  of  the  reality  or  truth  of  the  Word, 
and  convey  to  the  soul  the  spiritual  blessings 
of  peace,  assurance,  comfort,  hope,  joy, 
"•  promised  in  the  Word.  Peace  comes  always 
by  faith  :  faith  in  the  Word,  faith  in  the  Christ 
revealed  in  the  Word.  "Being  justified  by 
faith,  we  have  peace  with  God,  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Thus  by  faith  in  the  Word,  the  soul  says 
32 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

with  the  bhnd  man:  "I  know  that  whereas 
I  was  bhnd  now  I  see.  I  was  bhnd  in  sin ; 
in  darkness  with  regard  to  God,  and  Christ, 
and  niv  sins,  and  danger ;  I  was  in  the  thick 
gloom  of  spiritual  night  and  death ;  but  now 
I  see;  now  I  am  in  the  light,  in  joy,  in  grace, 
in  new  life,  in  Christ!"  How,  I  ask  such  a 
soul,  how  do  you  know  that  you  are  all  this? 
How,  or  in  what  way  does  the  Spirit  of  God 
bear  to  you  the  witness  of  all  this  ?  And  the 
answer  is :  Through  the  Word.  1  believe 
this  Word  of  God.  I  trust  myself  to  this 
Christ  whom  this  Word  here  reveals,  and  as 
He  is  here  revealed :  I  comply  with  the  Con- 
ditions of  Pardon,  and  Acceptance,  and  Sal- 
vation, which  are  so  plainly  here  laid  down. 
The  Spirit  helps  me  to  do  so;  and,  as  I  do 
so,  I  have  peace,  I  have  hope,  I  have  joy  in 
my  soul ;  I  know  that  I  am  a  Child  of  God, 
an  Heir  of  heaven ;  for  this  is  what  God's 
Word  promises  to  all  who  comply  with 
these  "conditions,"  to  all  who  do  thus  trust 
themselves  to  Christ ;  and  this,  therefore,  the 
Spirit  now  tells  me  is  all  mine,  because  I 
thus  trust. 

33 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Go\-ernment. 

Thus  the  Spirit  honors  and  uses  His  own 
inspired  Word  as  a  means  of  bestowing  As- 
surance. Thus  He  bears  witness,  not  by  vis- 
ion, or  by  some  kind  of  subjective  elevation, 
or  mere  natural  rapture  of  soul  into  a  clair- 
voyant state,  but  simply  through  the  Truth, 
and  by  faith  in  the  Truth.  The  Holy  Spirit 
helps  the  soul  to  believe  God's  Word,  to  take 
God  right  at  His  word,  and  then  because  it 
has  thus  taken  Him,  it  assures  Him  that  he 
is  a  Child  of  God.  In  other  words,  this  "In- 
ner Witness"  is  the  wliispering  of  the  Spirit 
of  God's  sure  word  of  acceptance  to  the  soul 
that  is  resting  fully  and  only  on  that  Written 
Word  of  God. 

And  I  may  here  add  that  this  inner  wit- 
ness is  thus  not  only  imparted  or  begotten 
in  the  soul  through  the  medium  of  the  ob- 
jective word,  but  must  be,  and  always  also 
is,  in  entire  harmony  with  that  objective 
word.  In  the  nature  of  things,  the  Holy 
Ghost  being  the  Author  of  both,  it  must  be 
so.  The  Spirit  cannot  contradict  Himself. 
Hence,  also,  the  written  inspired  word  must 
ever  be  made  the  supreme  measure  and 
34 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

moral  test  of  all  our  inner  experiences.  "To 
the  law  and  to  the  testimony,"  says  Isaiah, 
"if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word  it 
is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them."  Abra- 
ham said  unto  the  rich  man  in  hell,  concern- 
ing his  five  brethren  yet  on  earth  :  "They 
have  Moses  and  the  Prophets  ;  let  them  hear 
them."  Thus  must  all  our  so-called  religious 
experiences  ever  harmonize  with,  and  corre- 
spond with,  the  Written  Word :  not  the 
Word  interpreted  by,  and  contorted,  and 
wrenched  out  of  its  plain  and  true  meaning, 
to  be  made  to  correspond  with  the  arbitrary 
inner  experience.  Thus  measured  by  God's 
Word,  much  that  now  passes  for  the  highest 
and  best  kind  of  religious  experience  would 
fall  to  the  ground.  And  then  there  is  another 
test. 

b.  This  inner  Witness,  where  it  is  genu- 
ine, where  it  is  indeed  the  Spirit's  Witness, 
is  always  evidenced  by  a  corresponding  holy 
or  truly  Christian  eternal  life. 

Where  there  is  a  true  religious  experience 
within,  there  will  also,  as  certainly  as  shadow 
follows  substance,  be  a  godly  deportment 
35 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

without.  A  godly  spirit,  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
Himself:  godly  words,  godly  dealings  with 
his  fellowmen,  godly  prayers,  godly  deeds, 
godly  living. 

It  is  all  well  enough  for  us  as  Christians 
to  speak  to  each  other  of  our  experience ; 
of  what  we  know  and  feel  in  our  hearts  of 
the  grace  of  God.  But,  after  all,  the  best 
evidence  that  a  man  is  indeed  a  Christian, 
is  found,  not  so  much  in  how  he  feels,  as  in 
how  he  lives.  The  life  is  the  proof.  "By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  Let  me  see  how 
you  live ;  acquaint  me  with  your  temper, 
your  words,  your  actions,  your  daily  con- 
duct as  a  Christian  ;  let  me  know  how  faith- 
ful or  unfaithful  in  all  the  duties  of  Scrip- 
tural piety  you  are ;  what  kind  of  a  husband, 
or  wife,  or  son  or  daughter  you  are.  Let  me 
see  how  square  in  your  dealings  you  are. 
Show  me  all  this  ;  and  then  I  will  know,  and 
then  the  world  also  will  know,  and  then  you 
yourself  also  will  know  whether  you  are  a 
Christian  or  not.  For  where  the  heart  is 
changed  and  right,  the  outer  life  will  also  be 
right.  Where  there  is  a  true  inner  Witness 
36 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

there  will  always  also  be  the  godly  life  as 
an  outer  Witness.  Nor  is,  you  may  rest 
assured,  the  inner  true  if  the  outer  is  want- 
ing. The  Holy  Spirit  would  not  thus  con- 
tradict Himself:  whispering  "peace"  to  the 
soul  within,  and  yet  allowing  it  to  live  in 
sin  without.  "A  good  tree  cannot  bring  forth 
c\'il  fruit;  neither  can  a  corrupt  tree  bring 
forth  good  fruit.  Wherefore,"  says  Christ, 
and  let  us  mark  well  His  words,  "by  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

Let  no  one,  then,  deceive  himself  into  the 
belief  that  his  inner  Witness  is  the  Witness 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  unless  it  possesses  these 
two  positive  and  essential  evidences ;  viz., 
first,  that  it  is  born  of  the  Word  of  God, 
viz.,  "not  of  corruptible  seed,"  as  St.  Peter 
expresses  it,  "but  of  incorruptible,  by  the 
Word  of  God,  winch  liveth  and  abideth  for- 
ever." And  then,  secondly,  that  it  is  attend- 
ed by  a  godly,  consistent,  and  faithful  Chris- 
tian Life.  For  he  that  possesses  these  is  not 
deceived.  He  who  has  these  can,  in  truth, 
with  this  healed  blind  man  say :  "One  thing 
I  know,  that  whereas  I  was  blind,  now  I 
2,7 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

see."  But  if  he  possesses  not  these,  then  he 
is  deceived,  be  his  pretentions  to  rehgious 
experience  what  they  may.  "He  that  lacketh 
these  things  is  bhnd." 

But  let  us  now  yet  consider : 

III.  The  vahie  of  this  Testimony  of  Con- 
sciousness, or  of  Experience,  both  to  the 
Truth  of  Christianity,  and  to  the  ReaHty  of 
our  own  Personal  Piety. 

This  Consciousness  that  we  are  the  Chil- 
dren of  God  is  of  inexpressible  value.  To 
have,  not  the  Hope  only,  but  the  Assurance, 
the  positive  testimony  within  ourselves, 
wrought  there  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  we 
have  indeed  passed  from  death  unto  life, 
this  is  of  infinite  worth.  To  be  able  to  say : 
"I  know  it  is  so:  the  Spirit  bears  witness, 
through  the  Word,  with  my  spirit,  that  I 
am  a  Child  of  God."  Oh  that  is  the  richest 
blessing  which  the  soul,  this  side  of  heaven, 
can  enjoy.  In  every  way  it  is  unspeakably 
valuable.     It  is  valuable  because  it  is 

I.  A  Confirmation  of  God's  own  Written 
Word. 

It  is  the  testimony  of  our  own  experience 
38 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

to  the  truth  of  what  God,  in  His  Word, 
promises  to  all  who  will,  with  full  confidence, 
commit  themselves  to  His  mercy  through 
Christ.  In  such  experience  "we  therefore, 
set  to  our  seal  that  God  is  true,"  and  that 
His  Word  is  true.  And  thus  we,  in  the 
strongest  possible  manner,  commend  the 
Word  of  God  to  others. 

2.  It  is  valuable  also  as  a  Source  of  in- 
expressible personal  comfort  and  joy  to  our- 
selves. . 

Think,  for  a  moment,  what  all  is  implied 
in  such  an  Assurance :  pardon,  peace  with 
God,  grace  to  help  in  every  need,  adoption 
into  the  family  of  God,  certainty  of  heaven, 
all  this.  How  blessed  the  condition  of  the 
soul  that  has,  from  day  to  day,  within  itself 
the  consciousness  that  all  this  belongs  to 
it.  What  peace  and  comfort,  and  strength, 
and  joy,  and  hope,  and  heaven,  are  all  his, 
and  must,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  his 
who  thus  takes  in  the  fact,  and  lives  in  the 
consciousness  and  realization  of  the  truth 
that  all  this  is,  indeed,  through  Christ,  his 
relation  to  God.  Such  a  soul  enjoys  heaven 
39 


Joy  in  tlic  Divine  (lovernnicnt. 

already  on  earth.     And,  day  by  day,  he  can 
sing: 

"The  opening  heavens  around  me  shine 

With  beams  for  sacred  bHss, 
When  Jesus   shows  His  heart   is   mine, 

And  whispers  I  am  His." 

Is  such  an  Assurance,  such  a  Conscious- 
ness, not,  then,  vahiable? 

3.  But  it  is  vahiable.  also,  as  an  Jncenlive 
to  Christian  Activity. 

Then  man  who  thus  has  this  sense  of  his 
Adoption,  and  who  thus,  in  his  own  heart, 
experiences  the  blessedness  of  pardoned  sin 
and  of  hope  through  Christ,  is  moved,  by  his 
own  experience,  to  tell  others,  to  tell  even 
the  whole  world  of  this  precious  Saviour,  of 
this  gracious,  loving,  God,  of  this  comfort 
and  joy  of  a  Christian  life,  and  bring  them 
all,  if  possible,  also  to  know,  and  possess, 
and  enjoy  them.  The  Love  of  Christ,  thus 
dwelling  in  their  own  souls,  constrains  them 
to  have  others  also  taste  and  be  filled  with 
it.  And  hence,  also,  it  is  those  Christians 
who,  in  some  degree,  at  least,  have  this 
Assurance  of  their  own  acceptance,  who  are, 
40 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

also,  the  most  active  and  earnest  in  efforts  to 
lead  others  to  the  Saviour.  This  is  always  so. 
4.  And  then  this  Consciousness,  or  this 
Experience  of  the  Grace  of  God  in  our  hearts, 
is  valuable,  also,  as  an  element  of  success  in 
our  efforts  to  lead  others  to  the  Saviour. 
There  is  no  testimony  so  convincing,  so 
piercing,  and  persuasive,  and  irresistible  as 
the  testimony  of  Experience.  When  a  man, 
if  he  is  at  all  a  man  of  truth,  tells  you :  "I 
know  such  a  thing  is  true  because  I  myself 
have  tried  it,  I  experienced  it,  I  myself 
passed  through  it,  and  have,  here  in  myself, 
the  proof  of  it,"  you  must  believe  him.  It 
is  the  testimony  not  of  argument,  or  theory, 
or  speculation,  or  hearsay,  but  of  direct  per- 
sonal Experience,  and  you  cannot  doubt  it. 

And  so  in  the  matter  of  Religion.  The 
testimony  of  Experience  is  powerful.  It  goes 
rig-ht  down  into  men's  hearts.  It  silences 
all  their  objections.  It  dumfounds  all  their 
cavils.  It  hushes  them.  It  does  more :  it 
convinces  them ;  it  melts,  persuades,  wins 
them. 

And,  then,  there  is  power  in  this  testimony 
41 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

of  consciousness  for  another  reason  ;  viz.,  a 
man  tells  what  he  has  himself  actually  experi- 
enced so  differently  from  what  he  tells  that 
which  he  has  not  himself  experienced.  He 
tells  it  positively,  earnestly,  as  a  living  real- 
ity before  and  within  his  own  soul ;  and  the 
very  way  in  which  he  thus  tells  it,  carries 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  what  he  declares, 
and  leads  men  to  accept,  and  believe,  and  do 
what  he  says.  Yes,  the  man  who,  when  he 
talks  to  others  about  Christ,  and  tries  to  lead 
them  to  Christ,  can  say  :  "I  myself  know  this 
Christ ;  I  have  experienced  His  grace ;  I  know 
in  my  own  heart  what  a  precious  Saviour  He 
is ;"  that  man,  in  this  his  ability  thus  to  speak 
from  personal  experience,*  will  speak  with  a 
power  which  otherwise  he  could  not  possibly 
possess ;  and  he  also,  because  of  this  power, 
will  be  the  means  of  leading  many  to  Jesus. 

But  'Once  more : 

5.  This  Consciousness  of  our  Acceptance 
with  God  is  invaluable  in  view  of  Death  and 
of  the  Future  Life  which  is  before  us  all. 

It  disarms  Death  of  its  terrors,  and  takes 
42 


I  Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

away  all  fear  of  meeting  God  in  Judgment. 
It  fills  the  future  with  light,  and  hope,  and 
causes  the  soul  to  feel  that  dying  is  but  going 
home.  Assured  of  its  acceptance  with  God 
the  soul,  in  a  dying  hour,  can  sing. 

Blessed,  then,  for  all  these  reasons,  is  the 
man  who  has  this  Witness  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  within  his  own  heart  that  he  is  a  Child 
of  God.  Blessed  is  any  one,  whether  man  or 
woman  or  little  child,  who,  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  in  humble  obedience  to  the 
Inspired  Word,  has,  in  penitence  and  faith, 
gone  to  the  Siloam  Pool  of  the  Saviour's 
blood,  and  has  there  washed,  and  is  now  able, 
out  of  his  own  undoubting  Consciousness, 
and  as  the  deep  Conviction  of  his  own  indi- 
vidual Experience,  to  say,  in  the  clear  con- 
fidence of  this  healed  and  glad  blind  man : 
"Many  things  about  this  Christ  and  about 
Christianity  I  do  not  know ;  but  one  thing 
I  do  know : — I  once  was  blind,  but  now 
I  see,  and  it  was  He,  Jesus  the  Christ,  who 
made  me  thus  to  see.  All  glory  to  His  Name 
for  what  He  has  done  for  my  soul." 
4.3 


GOD'S  ANGELS  MEETING 
US  IN  THE  WAY. 

TEXT. 

"And  Jacob  zfciit  on  his  zvay,  and  the  angels  of 
God  met  him." — Genesis  xxxii.  i. 

For  twenty-one  years  Jacob  had  l)een  an 
exile  in  the  land  of  Padan  Aram.  They  had 
been  years  of  many  and  strange  vicissitudes. 
They  were  marked  by  numerous  and  pain- 
ful experiences.  But  tlie  experiences,  through 
which  God  thus,  in  these  years,  led  him,  had 
proved  a  blessing  to  him.  He  had  been 
1)rought  to  repentance  of  the  great  wrong, 
l:)Oth  against  his  father  and  brother,  which  he 
had  committed.  He  had  been  chastened  into 
a  new  and  holier  character.  He  was  no 
longer  Jacob,  the  Deceiver,  "the  Supplanter," 
but  he  was  now  Israel,  a  spiritual  Prince, 
having  power  both  with  God  and  with  men. 

By  divine  command,  he  was  now  return- 
ing to  his  native  land ;  going  back  to  the  old 
44 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

home,  whence,  twenty-one  years  before,  he 
had  fled  to  escape  the  rage  of  Esau  whom 
he  had  so  grossly  wronged.  God,  we  read, 
had  said  unto  him:  "Return  unto  thy  coun- 
try and  to  thy  kindred,  and  I  will  deal  well 
with  thee." 

Thus  journeying,  and  having  with  him  his 
household  and  all  his  possessions,  he  came 
into  the  neighborhood  of  the  little  brook- 
called  Jabbok,  east  of  the  river  Jordan.  It 
was  to  him  a  time  of  deep  and  anxious 
thought ;  a  moment  of  great  perplexity  and 
fear.  Not  far  from  where  he  thus  was,  Esau, 
his  brother,  resided,  the  head  now  of  a  great 
and  warlike  tribe,  and  remembering,  doubt- 
less, the  old  wrong  which  Jacob  had  done 
him. 

Thinking  of  all  this,  and  fearing  not  only 
for  his  own  life,  but  especially  for  the  lives 
of  his  loved  ones,  Jacob  was  filled  with  fore- 
bodings of  impending  evil,  and  trembled  lest 
he  and  his  be  together  destroyed. 

But  God's  eye  was  on  him.  God  was  his 
keeper.  God's  "Angels"  were  sent  to  him,  to 
preserve  him  in  this  hour  of  his  peril ;  to  be 
45 


Jo}-  in  the  I)i\inc  rim-ernment. 

his  defenders;  to  comfort  him  in  his  sorrow; 
to  guide  him  safely  through  the  danger  to 
which  lie  was  thus  exposed.  "And  Jacob 
went  on  his  way,  and  the  angels  of  God  met 
him."  And  when  Jacob  saw^  them  he  said : 
"This  is  God's  host;"  and  he  called  the  name 
of  that  place  "Mahanaim;"  that  is  two  hosts. 

All  this,  at  first  thought,  impresses  us  as 
an  unusual  and  singular  occurrence.  To  read 
that  God's  Angels  thus  met  Jacob,  as  he 
journeyed  there  on  the  way,  and  became  as 
it  were  a  divine  body-guard  all  around  him. 
to  keep  him,  this  seems,  at  first,  strange  and 
remarkable.  And  yet  it  is  really  not  an  un- 
usual occurrence.  It  is  something  which  is 
happening  all  the  time ;  happening  to  each 
one  of  us,  as  much  as  here  to  Jacob ;  happen- 
ing not  once  only,  but  often  and  constantly. 

Like  Jacob  we  are  all  journeying;  journey- 
ing towards  eternity.  Like  Jacob  we  come  also 
here  and  there,  in  this  journey  of  life  which 
we  are  making,  to  certain  perilous  and  crit- 
ical points ;  to  the  "crossings"  of  certain  dan- 
gerous streams,  like  the  stream  Jabbok  or 
the  river  Jordan,  "crossings"  where  we  are 
46 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

in  greatest  peril  of  being  overcome  by  spir- 
itual foes,  and  crushed  by  the  evils  and  ills 
of  life.  And  like  Jacob,  we  are  also  at  such 
times,  met,  and  helped,  and  defended,  and 
often  saved  by  the  angels  of  God. 

God's  angels  are  probably  thus  even  bod- 
ily and  literally  round  about  us,  as  our  help- 
ers and  defenders.  It  becomes  us,  I  know, 
to  speak  modestly  upon  this  point,  and  not 
to  announce  as  a  positive  Scripture  dogma 
that  which  the  Scriptures  have  not  thus  with 
absolute  dogmatic  positiveness  announced. 
And  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  we  must  not 
forget  that  neither  do  the  Scriptures  deny 
as  a  fact  such  literal  and  bodily  angelic  pres- 
ence and  ministry.  They  leave  it  to  us  at 
least  as  an  open  question.  Personally  I  in- 
cline to  accept  it. 

We  do  not,  I  know,  as  Jacob  here  did,  see 
the  angels  of  God  about  us  or  hear  them 
speak,  or  catch  visions  of  their  radiant  forms, 
as  they  are  round  about  us.  But  still,  of  the 
real,  literal  nearness  and  presence  of  God's 
angels,  at  least  occasionally,  in  any  great  emer- 
47 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Go\ernnient. 

gency  or  crisis  in  our  life  time  as  God's  chil- 
dren here  on  earth,  I  do  not  doubt.  They 
were,  I  know,  thus  really  and  visibly  here, 
at  the  crossing  of  Jabbok,  with  Jacob ;  with 
Elisha  at  Dothan  •  with  Hagar  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  with  Peter  in  the  prison ;  with  Paul  in 
the  storm  at  sea ;  with  the  dying  beggar  Laz- 
arus at  the  gate  of  the  Rich  Man  ;  with  Jesus, 
the  Master,  at  His  advent,  in  His  temptation, 
in  His  Agony,  at  His  Resurrection,  at  His 
Ascension. 

And  why  not,  then,  I  would  ask,  really  and 
literally,  although  invisibly,  also  with  us,  the 
children  of  God?  Does  not  God's  Word  say 
that  "they  are  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth 
to  minister  to  those  who  are  the  heirs  of  sal- 
vation?" Does  it  not  assure  us  that  "angels 
of  the  Lord  campeth  round  about  the  right- 
eous and  delivereth  them?"  Does  not  Christ 
also  declare  concerning  little  children  "that 
in  heaven  their  angels  do  always  behold  the 
face  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven?"  Do 
we  not  read  that  "there  is  joy  in  the  presence 
of  the  angels  of  God  over  one  sinner  that  re- 
penteth?"  Was  it  not  an  "angel  of  the 
48 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Lord"  that  on  Mount  Moriah  addressed 
Abraham ;  that  rebuked  Balaam ;  that  ap- 
peared to  Manoah  ;  that  encouraged  Gideon  ; 
that  communed  with  Joshua ;  that  made  an- 
nunciation of  the  Saviour's  birth  to  Mary ; 
that  appeared  to  Joseph?  Is  not  the  Scrip- 
ture full  of  recitals  of  angelic  visits  to  our 
earth ;  of  angelic  interviews,  and  angelic  min- 
istries to  God's  people  ?  What  reason  to  as- 
sume that  all  this  angelic  "ascending  and 
descending,"  spoken  of  so  often  in  Scripture, 
has  wholly  ceased?  Where  has  God  inti- 
mated that  angelic  visitors  no  longer  come 
to  our  earth?  Why  should  they  not  now,  in 
critical  hours  of  our  life,  as  well  as  in  the 
life-time  of  saints  of  old,  come,  and,  invisi- 
bly, yet  mightily,  comfort  and  strengthen 
and  guide  us?  Why  put  heaven  all  at  once 
so  far  away?  WHiy  thus  sunder  the  com- 
munion between  the  church  above  and  the 
church  below?  No;  No!  The  poet,  I  be- 
lieve, is  right  when  he  says : 

"Millions  of  spiritual  beings  walk  the  earth 

unseen 
Both  when  we  wake  and  when  we  sleep." 

49 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Literally  and  really,  then,  I  believe,  that  as 
there,  at  the  Jordan,  they  met  Jacob,  and 
helped  him  through  his  peril,  and  brought 
him  on  his  way,  so  do  God's  Angels  from 
heaven,  sent  to  us  by  our  Heavenly  Father, 
now  meet  us,  and  help  us  in  our  times  of 
crisis  and  special  need.     Why  not? 

Figuratively,  however,  we  certainly  may 
apply  these  words  of  our  text  to  ourselves. 
For  everything  that  comes  to  us  in  life  is 
really,  if  we  but  know  it,  "an  angel,  a  mes- 
senger, a  providence,  of  God."  Nothing,  as 
we  know,  comes  to  us  outside  of  the  circle 
of  His  "Providence";  nothing  that  He  does 
not  either  wisely  permit  or  cause.  So  that 
we  can  truthfully  sing: 

"In  each  event  of  Hfe  how  clear 

Thy  ruling  hand  I  see; 
Each  blessing  to  my  soul  more  dear 

Because  bestowed  by  Thee." 

We  do  not  always,  I  know,  thus  recognize 

the  experiences  of  life  as  angels  sent  to  us 

from  God.    They  often  do  not,  at  first  seem 

to  us  like  angels  at  all;  much  less  like  God's 

50 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

angels.  They  seem  to  us  something  else  and 
less  than  God.  In  our  spiritual  blindness 
and  practical  atheism,  we  call  them  by  other 
names.  We  speak  of  them  as  mere  "occur- 
rences," "accidents,"  "chances,"  "happen- 
ings," "incidents"  only  of  our  life.  But  still 
rightly  interpreted,  every  event  and  every 
experience  in  our  life  is  nevertheless  a  ver- 
itable "angel  of  God."  God's  Providence  is 
with  us  all  and  over  us  all,  in  all  our  ways. 

Illustrations  of  this  angelic  ministry 
abound  in  the  life  of  each  one  of  us.  All 
along  in  the  line  of  our  past  history,  as  we, 
in  our  later  years,  review  it,  we  can  see  cer- 
tain places,  and  certain  critical  points,  where 
these  good  angels  of  God  met  us,  and  talked 
to  us,  and  helped  us  on  in  our  way. 

Around  the  Virgin  and  Child  Jesus,  in  Ra- 
phael's Madonna,  the  air,  you  remember,  is 
represented  as  being  full  of  attendant  guar- 
dian angels.  So  also  around  us,  and  around 
every  Christian,  there  are  doubtless  multi- 
tudes of  these  same  angelic  ministers ;  call 
them  by  what  name  you  will,  "angels,"  "prov- 
idences," "laws,"  "miracles  ;"  but  divine  agen- 
Si 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

cies  they  all  are,  of  some  kind ;  by  which, 
and  in  which,  God  met  us,  here  or  there,  in 
the  pathway  of  life,  and  gave  shape  and  di- 
rection to  our  history  different  from  what  it 
otherwise  would  have  been. 

The  mountain  at  Dothan  was  full  of  horses 
and  chariots  of  fire  round  about  EHsha :  an- 
gels of  God,  a  great  host,  ready  to  defend 
and  help  him  in  the  peril  which  threatened 
him.     And  did  also  defend  and  help  him. 

Thus  surrounded  by  angelic  hosts,  by  pro- 
tecting and  guiding  and  helping  agencies  of 
God,  are  we,  at  every  step  of  our  path-way 
of  life.  Like  Elisha's  servant,  our  eyes  often 
have  been  closed,  and  we  have  failed  to  see 
them,  even  with  the  eye  of  faith.  But  still 
they  have  been  ever  w^ith  us,  and  have  met 
us  in  the  way. 

Once,  for  example,  you  were  young.  Life 
spread  itself  out  in  beautiful  and  attractive 
prospect  before  you.  You  had  early  decided 
what  your  course  in  life  would  be.  You 
would  be  this,  you  would  make  of  yourself 
this  or  that,  you  would  fill  this  or  that  posi- 
tion, your  plans  were  all  fixed,  your  way  of 
52 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

life  was  all  marked  out,  and  you  were,  like 
Jacob,  "going  on  in  the  way." 

But,  as  you  were  thus  going  on  in  the  way, 
something  happened  which  at  once  changed 
your  whole  course,  which  gave  to  your  life 
a  wholl}'  new  turn,  wliich  led  yoii  out  in  an 
an  entirely  different  direction  from  that  in 
which  you  before  were.  It  was  a  little  thing 
perhaps  in  itself  that  thus  changed  the  cur- 
rent of  your  life,  a  mere  "accident,"  or 
"chance,"  seemingly,  something  which  you 
at  the  time  thought  little  or  nothing  about, 
but  which  now,  in  looking  back  upon  it,  you 
can  easily  see  was  the  factor  or  the  unseen 
power  which  determined  your  whole  after 
course  of  life,  and  which  really  led  you  to 
become  what  and  who  and  where  you  to-day 
are. 

That  seemingly  little  incident  which  thus 
befell  you,  and  thus  determined  your  life- 
course,  was,  however,  no  chance  work ;  no 
accident  merely;  no  mere  human  agency; 
but  it  was  one  of  God's  angels.  As  here  the 
Angels  of  God  met  Jacob,  so  the  Angels  of 
God  met  you  there  in  the  way.  You  had  come 
53 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

to  one  of  life's  crossings,  you  needed  direc- 
tion, the  choice  you  would  have  made,  if 
left  to  yourself,  would  not  have  tended  to 
your  highest  good,  and  so  the  Angels  came 
to  you ;  came  in  the  form  of  some  mere  oc- 
currence or  incident  of  life,  and  led  you  in 
a  different  and  better  way.  "There  is  a  Di- 
vinity shapes  our  ends;  rough  hew  them  as 
we  will."  "Man  proposes  but  God  disposes." 
"The  way  of  man  is  not  in  himself;  it  is  not 
in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his  steps." 

Take,  however,  another  illustration.  At 
some  point  or  period  of  your  past 
life,  you  were  in  great  danger  of  mak- 
ing moral  shipwreck  of  yourself.  You 
were  a  young  man.  You  had  fallen  into  cer- 
tain company  which  would  soon  have  led 
you  astray.  You  were  beginning  certain  hab- 
its which  would  soon  have  proved  your 
ruin.  It  was  a  critical  moment  in  your  moral 
history.  It  was  one  of  your  life's  decisive 
crossings ;  a  moral  pivot,  upon  which  hung 
your  whole  subsequent  character,  your  des- 
tiny for  this  life  and  the  next.  But  God's 
Angels  met  you.  In  the  form  of  "Con- 
54 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

science"  speaking  to  you ;  or  of  "Memory" 
recalling  the  words  often  spoken  by  a  pious 
father  or  mother ;  or  in  the  kind  interest 
taken  in  you  by  some  Christian  friend ;  or  in 
some  other  form,  God's  Angels  came  to 
you,  meeting  you  there  in  the  way,  warning 
you  and  turning  you  aside  from  the  preci- 
pice of  moral  ruin  upon  whose  brink  you 
then  stood. 

And,  by  these  angels  of  God,  thus  meeting, 
and  warning,  and  revealing  to  you  your  dan- 
ger, your  peril,  you  were  saved.  You  drew 
back.  You  broke  away  from  the  tempta- 
tion. You  began  another  and  better  life. 
A  gentleman  recently  told  me  that,  when  a 
young  man,  tempted  by  companions,  he  was 
once  induced  to  enter  a  drinking  saloon  and 
call  for  liquor.  The  strong  drink  was  poured 
out.  It  sparkled  in  the  tumbler  or  cup  before 
him.  He  took  it  up.  He  was  in  the  act  of 
putting  it  to  his  lips  and  drinking  it.  It  was 
his  first  glass.  But,  as  he  raised  it,  and  was 
thus  about  to  drink  it,  his  eye  looked  into  it, 
and  there,  reflected  from  the  face  of  that 
liquor,  looking  up  as  it  were,  from  the  bot- 
55 


Juy  in  the  Divine  Go\eninient. 

torn  of  the  glass,  he  saw,  as  plainly  as  could 
be,  the  pleading  face,  or  image,  of  his  sainted 
mother.  At  once  he  again  set  it  down.  He 
left  it  untasted,  his  first  and  also  his  last 
glass.  God's  Angels  had  met  him.  They  had 
shown  him  his  danger,  and  saved  him. 

And  so  with  many.  They  are  going  into 
the  ways  of  sin ;  they  are  already  far  gone 
on  the  way;  utterly  worldly,  wicked,  living 
without  God  in  the  world,  unconcerned  for 
their  salvation,  hastening  onward  thought- 
less and  unprepared  towards  eternity. 

But  now  the  Angels  of  God  meet  them  in 
the  way.  The  Angel,  for  example,  of  reflec- 
tion, the  Angel  of  God's  Word,  the  Angel 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Angel  of  the  Gospel 
Ministry,  the  Angel  of  Awakening,  and  Con- 
viction, and  Prayer,  and  repentance,  and 
Faith.  These  all  "meet  him,"  as  he  walks 
there  in  the  way  of  death,  lead  him  to  think, 
make  him  stop,  show  him  his  guilt  and  peril, 
direct  him  to  Christ,  and  save  him. 

Thus  God's  Angels  are  probably  meeting 
and  speaking  to  some  wayward  and  wander- 
ing souls  here,  in  the  sanctuary  now.  Prob- 
56 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Go\-ernment. 

ably  some  who  are  now  liere,  have  under 
temptation  gone  down  into  the  very  depths  of 
sin,  and  have  gotten  far  away  from  God ; 
and  now,  as  they  sit  here  in  God's  House,  and 
the  truth  is  preached,  the  Angel  of  God's 
Holy  Spirit,  the  Angel  of  an  Awakened  Con- 
science, the  Angel  of  Conviction  and  Re- 
pentance, these  "Angels"  of  God  are  here 
meeting  them,  and  tenderly  remonstrating 
with  them,  and  pleading  with  them  to  come 
back  again  to  God,  to  accept  Christ,  to  be 
saved.  Is  it  so?  Are  there  such  convicted 
souls  here,  this  evening,  in  this  House  of 
God?  To  all  such,  if  there  be  any,  let  me 
urgently  say:  "Hear  what  these  Angels  of 
God  thus  say  to  you.  Obey  their  loving- 
exhortation.  Do  what  they  bid  you.  It  is 
for  the  salvation  of  your  own  soul  that  they 
thus  plead.     Hear,  therefore,  and  live. 

But,  God's  Angels  meet  us  in  other  forms. 
Sometimes  they  meet  us  in  the  form  of  direct 
Providences.  We  are  walking  on  in  life,  all 
absorbed  in  present  things :  our  affections 
and  thoughts  wholly  given  up  to  the  gain 
57 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

and  pleasures  of  this  world,  forgetful  of  the 
great  and  eternal  hereafter,  and  in  danger, 
therefore,  of  losing  our  souls. 

Then,  to  save  us,  God's  Angels  come  to 
us.     They  meet  us  in  the  way. 

The  name  of  the  Angel  that  thus  meets  us 
may  be  "Sickness."  It  takes  us  away  from 
the  busy  scenes  of  the  world.  It  shuts  us 
up  for  awhile  in  retirement.  It  makes  us 
hold  still  and  think  upon  our  condition.  It 
talks  to  us.  It  tells  us  anew  all  about  God, 
and  about  the  Saviour,  and  about  our  Sins, 
and  our  Souls,  and  our  duty.  It  saves  us. 

Or,  the  Angel  that  thus  meets  us  may  per- 
haps bear  the  name  of  "Adversity."  Riches 
may  take  to  themselves  wings  and  fly  away. 
Enemies  may  rise  up  against  us.  Friends 
may  forsake  us.  Business  enterprises  may 
disappoint  us.  All  things  may  go  against 
us.  Our  way  may  be  all  shut  up  against  us. 
It  is  one  of  God's  Angels  in  the  way.  He  is 
sent  to  show  us  the  vanity  of  earth ;  the  folly 
of  living  only  for  this  life ;  the  duty  of  set- 
ting our  affections  on  things  above. 

Or,  once  more,  the  name  of  the  Angel  that 
S8 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

thus  meets  us  in  the  way,  may,  perhaps,  be 
Bereavement.  Death  perhaps  enters  your 
home.  Your  loved  one  Is  taken  av^ay  from 
you.  The  vacant  chair,  the  silent  instru- 
ment., the  unoccupied  chamber,  all  remind 
you  of  your  painful  loss.  Your  heart  is  sad 
and  almost  crushed  under  the  blow^.  But  it 
is  an  Angel  of  God  that  has,  in  that  hour 
of  bereavement,  come  to  your  home.  It  is 
all  the  dealing  with  you  of  Divine  Love.  It 
is  the  visit  to  you  of  a  heavenly  messenger : 
a  messenger  whom  God  has  sent  to  soften 
your  heart,  to  lead  you  to  think  of  death 
and  of  the  life  to  come,  to  lift  your  affections 
away  from  earth  to  heaven  and  to  the  better 
and  glorious  things  of  Eternity. 

But,  at  such  times,  we  have,  also,  other 
angelic  visitors.  God's  Angels  of  Comfort 
also  meet  us  in  the  way.  Bereaved  and  brok- 
en-hearted, weeping  and  walking  in  dark- 
ness, Messengers  of  Divine  Consolation,  An- 
gels of  Heavenly  Grace  also  then  wing  their 
way  to  us,  to  solace  us  and  to  console  us  in 
our  grief.  And  blessed  are  the  lessons  which 
they  then  whisper  to  us :  lessons  of  the  Wis- 
59 


Joy  in  Uie  Divine  Government. 

dom  of  God,  and  of  the  love  of  God,  in  all 
His  sore  dealings  with  us :  lessons,  also,  of 
submission,  of  trust,  of  hope ;  breathing  a 
sweet  spirit  of  resignation  into  our  souls, 
calming  our  agitated  emotions,  healing  our 
wounded  spirits,  clearing  our  vision,  and 
enabling  us  to  look  out  through  and  beyond 
the  darkness  around  us,  and  there,  in  the 
light  of  God's  love,  and  in  the  light  of  Eter- 
nity to  see  that  it  is  all  right  and  good. 
Blessed  be  God  for  these  dear  comforting 
Angels  that  thus  when  we  journey  in  sor- 
row, "meet  us  in  the  way,"  and  then  thus 
point  us  upward  to  "the  Better  Life." 

"Though    strange    and    winding    seems    the 
way, 
While  yet  on  earth  I  dwell. 

In  heaven  my  heart  shall  gladly  say, 
Thou,  God,  dost  all  things  well." 
But,  once  more :  these  "Angels  of    God" 

come  to  us  sometimes  also  in  the  form  only 
of  a  good  thought,  of  a  better  desire  or  feel- 
ing, than  before  possessed  us.  A  man,  for 
example,  living  in  sin.  or  in  religious  indiflfer- 
60 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ence,  all  at  once,  is  filled  with  a  strange  dis- 
satisfaction with  himself,  an  inexplicable  un- 
rest of  soul,  an  overpowering  sense  of  the 
emptiness  of  the  life  he  is  living,  an  inextin- 
guishable longing  after  something  holier  and 
better  than  he  now  has,  a  deep,  inner  yearn- 
ing after  God,  and  after  that  which  is  good. 
He  cannot  account  for  his  feelings.  They 
come  over  him,  he  says,  almost  against  his 
will.  When  he  is  alone,  when  he  is  awake  at 
night,  often,  indeed,  right  in  the  midst  of  his 
course  of  sin,  they  come  unbidden  over  him, 
and  he  feels  himself,  like  the  Prodigal, 
strangely  drawn  to  arise  and  go  back  to  his 
forsaken  Father  and  God. 

Whence  come  sucli  better  thoughts  as 
these?  Why  does  he  feel  thus?  Simply,  I 
answer,  because  then  the  good  "Angels  of 
God"  are  meeting  him  in  the  way,  and  are 
trying  to  save  him.  Simply  because  then 
God  Himself,  by  the  Angel  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  is  speaking  to  him. 

Thus  is  our  life,  full  of  these  Angelic  Vis- 
itants. To  us  as  to  Jacob,  God's  Host  come, 
as  we  journey  in  life's  way,  to  check,  divert, 
6i 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

direct,  gfuard,  streng-then,  comfort,  help,  save 
us. 

Learn  to  look  for  and  see  an  angel  of  God 
in  everything  that  befalls  us  in  life.  "God's 
Angels,"  as  we  have  seen,  come  to  us  dis- 
guised. They  do  not  always  openly  declare 
and  show  themselves  as  angels  of  God.  Let 
us  then,  try  to  discover  them.  Let  us  seek 
in  every  experience  of  life  to  find  them  out. 
Let  us  look  for  these  hidden  and  veiled  mes- 
sengers of  God :  in  every  joy,  in  every  sor- 
row, in  every  prosperity,  in  every  adversity, 
in  every  turn  and  new  experience  of  life.  Do- 
ing so,  cultivating  the  habit  of  doing  so,  we 
will  also,  constantly,  along  life's  pathway, 
find  them.  We  will  discover  them,  day  after 
day,  all  around  us :  going  before  us,  hover- 
ing over  us,  the  very  Host  of  God,  Mahan- 
aim,  encamping  round  about  us  and  doing 
us  good.  And  what  a  charm,  what  a  spiritual 
sweetness,  what  a  blessed  divine  communion 
and  fellowship,  what  a  joyous  feeling  of  se- 
curity and  comfort,  what  a  precious  bringing 
down  of  heaven  to  earth,  this  consciousness 
of  God's  Angels,  yea,  of  God  Himself,  being 
62 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

thus  all  around  us,  all  this  would  throw  over 
our  life !  Let  us  try  it.  And  thus  let  us 
make  our  life  here  full  of  the  angelic  fellow- 
ship and  full  of  companionship  with  God 
Himself.  Says  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  "As  far 
back  as  I  can  remember,  I  had  the  habit  of 
thanking  God  for  everything  I  received,  and 
of  asking  Him  for  everything  that  I  wanted. 
If  I  lost  a  book  or  any  one  of  my  playthings, 
I  prayed  that  I  might  find  it.  I  prayed  walk- 
ing along  the  streets,  in  school  and  out  of 
school,  whether  playing  or  studying.  I  did 
not  do  this  in  obedience  to  any  prescribed 
rule — it  seemed  natural.  I  thought  of  God 
as  an  everywhere  present  being,  full  of  kind- 
ness and  love,  who  would  not  be  offended 
if  children  talked  to  Him."  We  here  learn, 
also, 

How  submissive  under  all  life's  afflictions, 
in  view  of  this  truth,  we  should  all  be.  Nay, 
how  joyful  we  should  even  be.  For  what  are 
the  afflictions  of  life?  They  are  only  the  An- 
gels of  God — sent  down  to  chasten  us  into 
hoHness;  to  purify  us  from  earth's  dross  and 
fit  us  for  heaven.  Thus,  then,  let  us  regard 
63 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

them,  and  not  only  submit  to  them,  but  even 
rejoice  in  them,  knowing  that  they  work  out 
for  us  "a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal 
weight  of  glory."  And  once  more,  we  learn 
yet  this  lesson,  namely, 

The  duty  of  promptly  following  all  these 
good  leadings  of  God's  Angels.  These  good 
thoughts  withm  us ;  these  ministrations  of 
Grace  and  Providence,  brought  thus  to  bear 
upon  us ;  these  angelic  and  divine  drawings 
of  our  souls  heavenward,  these,  my  hearers, 
follow.  These  obey.  They  come  to  you  in 
love.  They  are  God's  angels,  meeting  you  in 
the  way,  in  order  to  save  you.  Follow  them. 
Follow  Conscience ;  follow  the  Word  of 
God ;  follow  the  blessed  Holy  Spirit ;  follow 
the  leadings  of  Providence.  They  are  all 
white-robed  "Angels  of  God."  Follow  them. 


64 


CONCERNING  OUR  TEMPT- 
ATIONS. 

TEXT. 

"And  lead  us  not  into  temptation." — Matthew  vi.  13. 

It  is  well,  rig'ht  at  the  commencement  of 
our  remarks,  to  notice  that  in  this  petition: 
"And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,"  our  Sav- 
iour does  not  teach  us  to  pray  for  exemption 
from  temptation,  or  that  we  may  never  at  all 
be  tempted.  For  this,  in  the  first  place,  would 
be  to  pray  for  something  which,  under  the 
circumstances,  would  be  a  moral  impossibil- 
ity. Being  what  man  is,  viz.,  la  free  moral 
agent,  and  living  as  he  does,  in  a  world  full 
of  every  species  of  sin,  and  above  all,  being 
accessible  by  Satan,  the  great  Author  of  all 
moral  evil,  man  cannot  otherwise  than  be 
subject  to  temptation.  It  is  incidental  to  his 
very  character  and  condition.  It  grows  nec- 
essarily from  the  very  constitution  of  his  be- 
ing. His  very  liberty  of  will,  his  moral  free- 
dom, his  very  power  of  choosing,  demands 
temptation ;  demands  it  in  order  to  give  that 
65 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

liberty  opportunity  to  exercise  itself,  and  in 
order  to  test  that  capacity  to  choose,  and 
thus  reveal  innate  moral  character.  Total 
exemption  from  temptation  is,  therefore,  in 
the  nature  of  the  case,  to  man  as  a  free  moral 
agent,  an  absolute  moral  impossibility. 

But,  even  if  total  exemption  from  tempta- 
tion were  possible,  it  is  manifestly  not  de- 
sirable. For  who  would  wish  to  be  deprived 
of  the  noble  freedom  to  choose  either  good 
or  evil,  with  which  God  has  created  us?  Who 
would  desire  that  that  liberty  of  will,  which 
elevates  him  above  irrational  creation,  and 
which  allies  him  to  angels,  to  God,  and  im- 
mortality, should  be  blotted  out,  and  that  he 
should  be  reduced  to  the  level  of  the  brute 
in  the  order  of  being,  and  be  controlled  only 
by  instinct  or  by  mere  arbitrary  law?  Who, 
m  a  word,  would  not  rather  be  in  this  respect 
just  what  God  has  made  him,  viz.  capable 
of  being  tempted,  and  capable  of  sinning, 
and  capable  even  of  eternally  perishing,  rath- 
er than  to  be,  like  the  irrational  animal,  or 
like  the  tree,  or  rock,  or  flower,  or  bird,  in- 
capable of  intelligent  choice  and  self-determi- 
66 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

nation.  No  one.  We  all  feel  that  our  very 
revelation  of  the  dignity  and  elevation  of  our 
superiority  in  the  scale  of  being,  that  it  is  a 
revelation  of  the  dignity  and  elevation  of  our 
moral  natures,  that  it  is  a  picture  to  us  and 
to  the  universe,  of  the  image  and  likeness  of 
God  himself  in  which  he  created  us,  and  we 
rejoice  in  it. 

Christ,  then,  does  not  here  teach  us  to 
ask  in  prayer  that  we  may  never  be  tempted, 
we  may  feel  sure,  for  this  would  be  no  bless- 
ing but  an  injury  to  us.  Temptation  is  moral 
discipline ;  is  a  means  to  the  production  of  a 
virtuous  and  pious  character,  and  is,  there- 
fore, a  necessary  help  to  Salvation.  And 
hence  Jesus,  in  His  "intercessory  prayer"  re- 
corded in  John  17,  does  not  pray  that  His 
disciples  may  be  "taken  out  of  the  world," 
i.  e.  away  from  all  possibility  of  temptation 
to  evil,  but  He  only  prays  that  they  may  be 
kept  from  the  power  of  the  evil  that  is  in  the 
world. 

And,  right  here,  it  may  be  well  to  note 
that,  being  as  he  is  and  forever  also  will 
continue  to  be,  viz.,  a  free  moral  agent,  majn 
67 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

always  will  possess  this  capacity  of  being 
tempted,  and  hence  the  ability  also,  if  left  to 
himself,  of  sinning.  Adam  possessed  it  in 
Eden,  and,  tempted  by  Satan,  yielded  and 
fell.  Satan,  an  exalted  angel,  being  free,  pos- 
sessed it  even  in  Heaven,  and  even  there  he 
had  within  himself,  and  unseduced  to  it  from 
without,  the  power  of  originating  sin;  of 
tempting  and  destroying  himself.  Even  in 
Heaven  itself  then,  if  left  to  himself,  and  not 
kept  by  the  special  Grace  or  Power  of  God, 
man  may  be  tempted,  and  sin,  and  perish. 
But  he  will  not  there  be  left  to  himself.  He 
will  there  be  kept  both  from  being  tempted 
and  sinning.  But  his  safety  will  not  lie  in 
the  place,  nor  in  the  surroundings  of  the 
redeemed  Souls,  nor  in  the  superior  strengtli 
of  moral  character,  or  virtue,  or  holiness, 
which  in  himself  he  will  then  possess,  but  in 
the  preserving  Grace  of  Christ,  of  which, 
throughout  all  Eternity,  he  will,  be,  as  he  is 
now,  the  recipient.  By  that  he  will  be  kept 
so  that,  even  in  Heaven,  every  redeemed 
Soul  will  forever  have  occasion,  with  adoring 
gratitude,  to  exclaim :  "I  am  saved,  saved 
68 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

from  falling,  as  Satan  once,  even  here  in 
Heaven,  fell;  but  saved  only  by  Grace.  I 
live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me.  And 
the  Hfe  which  I  now  live,  I  live  by  the  Faith 
of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me  and  gave 
Himself  for  me." 

Our  blessed  Redeemer,  in  this  petition : 
''And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,"  means, 
we  may  now  remark,  to  teach  us  to  pray  that 
we  may  not  be  overcome  with  temptation. 
It  is  a  prayer  not  against  the  existence  but 
against  the  power  of  temptation.  It  is  an 
acknowledgment  to  God  of  our  own  moral 
weakness,  of  the  might  and  malignity  of  our 
spiritual  foes,  and  of  the  consciousness  of 
danger  if  left  to  battle  with  sin  in  our  own 
unaided  strength.  It  is  saying  to  Him :  "Oh 
God,  abandon  us  not  to  temptation;  leave 
us  not  alone  to  meet  it.  Be  Thou,  the  Al- 
mighty One,  our  shelter  and  refuge  and  help 
in  the  midst  of  it.  Lead  us  safely  and  tri- 
umphantly through  it."  This  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  petition,  "And  lead  us  not  into 
temptation." 

The  language   of  our  text,  at  first  view, 
69 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

seems  to  imply  that  God  is  the  Author  of  our 
temptations ;  that  it  is  He  that  leads  us  into 
them.  But  God  never  allures  any  one  to  sin. 
He  acts  the  part  of  tempter  to  no  one.  He 
is  holy.  He  everywhere  forbids,  condemns, 
punishes  and  declares  His  hatred  against  sin 
He  is  not,  nor  can  He  be,  in  any  way  either 
the  author  of  approver  of  sin.  And,  ever 
since  sin  has  entered  the  universe,  He  has 
done  everything  compatible  with  His  own 
perfections,  and  with  man's  freedom,  to  re- 
strain, suppress,  abolish  it.  And  hence,  in 
the  language  of  Saint  James :  "let  no  man, 
when  he  is  tempted,  say,  I  am  tempted  of 
God,  for  God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil, 
neither  tempted  He  any  man." 

God,  then,  is  not  the  source  of  our  tempta- 
tions. He  leads  no  one  into  them.  They 
spring  from  our  own  depraved  natures.  They 
come  to  us  from  the  world  of  sin  around  us. 
They  originate  especially  with  Satan,  the 
dark  Prince  of  the  Power  of  the  Air ;  the 
malignant  Spirit  that  now,  and  always, 
"worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience." 
These  are  the  sources  of  our  temptations. 
70 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

But,  while  God  is  not  the  author  of  our 
temptations,  He  yet  permits  them.  Sin, 
Satan,  and  our  own  lusts,  God  permits  to  be 
sources  of  temptation.  These  He  suffers  to 
exist  as  tempters  to  us,  in  order  by  them  to 
reveal  and  develop  each  man's  true  char- 
acter ;  in  order  to  show  to  him  and  to  others 
just  what  is  in  the  human  heart;  in  order 
to  test  his  virtue;  in  order  to  prove  him. 
For  who  knows  himself  until  tempta- 
tion and  trial  of  character  show 
him  what  he  is,  what  wickedness  he 
is  capable  of,  what  latent  depravity  lies 
buried  within  his  heart.  Look,  for  example, 
over  History,  and  see  how  men  that  were 
supposed,  by  themselves  and  by  others,  to  be 
models  of  virtue  and  integrity  of  character, 
when  once  they  were  brought  into  positions 
and  places  of  trial  or  temptation,  revealed  a 
character  just  the  reverse.  Solomon,  for  in- 
stance, was  a  very  different  man  in  the  early 
part  of  his  reign  from  what  he  was  in  those 
voluptuous  after-periods  of  his  history  dur- 
ing which  he  brought  such  reproach  iupon 
the  throne.  Nero  was  a  very  different  man 
71 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

while  he  was  the  pupil  of  Seneca,  from  what 
he  was  in  those  days  when  he  was  Emperor 
of  Rome.  Hazael,  the  subject,  was  a  very 
different  man  from  Hazael,  the  prince.  How 
different  Mary,  the  youthful  Queen  of  Eng- 
land, the  translator  of  the  Gospels,  the  sup- 
posed humble  and  pious  Christian,  from 
Mary,  the  cruel  persecutor  of  the  Church, 
the  hater  of  Protestantism,  and  the  one 
whom  history  has  handed  down  to  the  hor- 
ror of  succeeding  ages  under  the  dread  appel- 
lation of  "Bloody  Mary."  And  see  Robes- 
pierre, at  first,  and  when  yet  untried,  regard- 
ed by  all  as  even  feminine  in  the  tenderness 
of  his  nature,  so  sensitive  to  the  sufferings 
of  his  fellowmen  that  he  resigned  a  lucrative 
office,  rather  than  condemn  a  culprit  to  the 
gallows,  and  yet  afterward,  when  once  he 
held  the  reins  of  supreme  power,  and  there 
was  naught  to  restrain  him,  how  he  proved 
himself  to  be  a  very  incarnation  of  cruelty, 
filling  all  Paris  and  France  with  blood.  And 
so  with  men  everywhere.  And  so  it  is  with 
all  of  us..  We  do  not  know  ourselves,  not 
one  of  us,  until  we  are  tempted  and  our 
72 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

character  tried.  The  strength  of  the  Forest- 
oak  is  unknown  until  the  hurricane  sweeps 
around  it,  and  with  its  mighty  breath  of 
storm,  wrestles  with  it.  The  power  of  the 
bridge  that  spans  the  river  is  unknown  until 
that  river,  swollen  suddenly  by  heavy  rains, 
rises  and  sweeps  its  mad  currents  down  upon 
it.  And  just  so  no  man's  virtue,  no  man's 
moral  strength,  no  man's  piety,  no  man's 
honesty  or  purity,  is  known,  or  can  be 
known,  either  to  himself  or  to  others,  until 
temptations  test  him,  and  prove  him,  and  re- 
veal him  just  as  he  is.  Hence  the  duty  of 
humility.  Hence  the  duty,  also,  of  charity 
towards  those  that  fall. 

Whilst  God  then,  is  not  the  author  of  temp- 
tations. He  yet  permits  them,  and  by  them 
He  suflfers  man  to  exercise  his  free  agency, 
gives  him  an  opportunity  to  develop  a  vir- 
tuous character,  and  thus  subjects  him  to 
that  moral  discipline  which  tests  his  alle- 
giance to  God,  and  his  meetness  for  Heaven. 

And  hence,  since  all  men  need  tempta- 
tions, all  men  also  have  their  temptations, 
and   every   man   also   has   his   own   peculiar 


;  Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

temptations.  We  may  imagine,  and  I  sup- 
pose we  all  often  do  imagine,  that  our  condi- 
tion is  one  of  special  trial,  and  that,  if  we 
could  only  occupy  our  neighbor's  place,  and 
be  subject  to  his  temptations  and  trials,  we 
should  live  much  better  moral  and  christian 
lives.  But  this  is  all  delusion.  Temptations 
and  trials  are  the  lot  of  every  human  being. 
The  rich  man  has  his  special  temptations. 
Wrapped  round  with  ease,  flushed  with 
wealth,  and  supplied  with  abundance,  he  is 
tempted  to  forget  his  dependence  upon  God, 
to  waste  his  life  in  splendid  idleness,  to  weak- 
en his  soul  by  indulgence  in  luxury,  and  to 
become  vain  and  inflated  with  pride.  And  so 
has  the  poor  man  his  special  temptations.  As 
many  everywhere  well  know  poverty  has  its 
trials :  its  fretful  cares,  its  gloomy  distrusts, 
its  painful  sense  of  weakness,  its  social  bit- 
terness, its  tendency  to  discontent,  to  envy, 
to  repining  against  the  government  of  God. 
And  sio  has  the  business  man  his  peculiar 
temptations :  his  haste  to  grow  rich,  his  prov- 
ocations with  unprincipled  competition,  his 
trials  with  employees,  his  exhausting  worries, 
74 


,  Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

his  perplexing  cares,  his  close  and  hot  con- 
tacts with  selfishness  in  himself  and  others. 
And  so  has  the  scholar  or  student  his  pecul- 
iar temptations :  his  perplexing  doubts,  his 
sceptical  suggestions,  his  pride  of  intellect, 
his  selfish  thirst  for  earthly  fame.  And  even 
old  age  has  its  temptations,  and  its  peculiar 
sins.  The  sinners  of  the  Bible  are  not  by 
any  means  all  young  sinners.  Many  of  them 
were  well  on  in  years.  Solomon  is  a  noted 
example.  So  is  Noah ;  so  is  Lot ;  so  is  Da- 
vid. Paul  and  Barnabas  were  not  boys  when 
they  quarreled.  The  prophet  who  led  the 
young  prophet  to  disobey  God,  was  an  old 
prophet.  And  so  I  repeat,  has  each  man  his 
own  peculiar  spiritual  trials.  So  are  all  con- 
ditions, and  all  places,  and  all  employments 
in  life  and  all  periods  of  life,  beset  with  tempt- 
ations. And  if  anyone,  therefore,  thinks  that 
by  changing  his  condition  in  life  he  will  free 
himself  from  this  exposure  to  temptation,  he 
makes  a  great  mistake.  For,  let  his  condi- 
tion in  Ufe  be  what  it  will,  let  his  sphere  or 
place  be  where  it  will,  there  temptations  will 
also  follow  him,  and  assail  him,  and  there 
75 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

will  he  still  have  need  to  cry :     "And  lead  us 
not  into  temptation." 

It  may  also  be  noticed  that  not  only  will 
every  man  have  his  temptations,  but  every 
man  also  will  have  them  in  his  weakest  point. 
Where  the  wall  of  the  besieged  fortress  is 
weakest,  there  the  guns  are  made  to  pour 
their  fiercest  volleys  of  shot;  and  where  the 
ranks  of  the  marshalled  army  are  most 
thinned,  there  the  charging  columns  most 
concentrate  and  seek  to  gain  the  victory. 
And  so  in  each  man's  weakest  moral  point, 
(and  there  is  such  a  weakest  point  in  every 
man's  nature)  Satan,  and  the  world,  and  his 
own  depravity,  most  violently  assail  him  and 
seek  to  overcome  him.  And  hence  the  great 
importance  of  each  man  thoroughly  knowing 
himself,  and,  where  he  is  weakest,  there  also 
rally  his  strongest  defensive  moral  forces  and 
there  exercise  his  greatest  vigilance. 

And  yet  men  also  often  fail  where  they  are 
strongest.  Elijah,  on  Carmel,  was  an  ex- 
ponent of  courage;  soon  he  lies  there  under 
the  juniper-tree,  an  exponent  of  despair. 
John  was  the  disciple  of  love ;  yet,  in  wrath 
76 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

he  asks  Christ  to  call  down  fire  upon  the 
Samaritan  village  which  had  refused  to  re- 
ceive them.  David  was  eminent  for  personal 
holiness ;  and  yet  he  goes  down,  under  temp- 
tation, into  basest  sensuality.  Moses  was 
noted  for  his  meekness;  and  yet  how  angry 
he  became.  Solomon  was  renowned  for  his 
wisdom ;  and  yet,  in  his  later  life,  how  fool- 
ishly he  behaved. 

These  extremes,  visible  in  human  life,  teach 
us  not  to  put  toO'  much  trust  in  ourselves, 
but  to  trust  in  God's  restraining  and  sustain- 
ing Grace  only. 

But  what,  let  us  now  ask,  is  the  measure  of 
the  extent  of  our  responsibility  in  connection 
with  our  temptations?  It  is  determined,  I 
answer,  by  our  own  voluntary  moral 
attitude  towards  them  and  our  own 
personal  disposal  of  them.  It  is  no 
sin  to  be  tempted,  but  it  is  sin  to  harbor 
temptation;  to  cherish  it  lovingly  in  our 
hearts,  to  yield  to  it,  to  obey  it.  There  is 
where  the  sin  begins.  As  another  has  said : 
"We  cannot  hinder  the  birds  from  flying  over 
our  heads,  but  we   can  hinder  them     from 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

building  their  nests  in  our  hair."  And  so  we 
cannot  prevent  temptation  from  assaiHng 
«is,  but  we  can,  by  God's  Grace,  prevent  it 
from  injuring  us.  We  can  battle  against  it, 
we  can  resist  it,  we  can  say  as  Jesus  said : 
"Get  thee  behind  me  Satan,  for  thou  savor- 
est  not  the  things  that  be  of  God."  We  are 
not  responsible  for  our  temptations  no  more 
than  Jesus  was  when  He  was  tempted,  until 
we  yield  to  them ;  until,  in  our  hearts,  we 
cherish  them,  or  love  them,  or  desire  them, 
and  thus  voluntarily  make  them  our  own. 
This  is  a  great  comforting  fact.  Let  us  not 
forget  it.  Let  no  tempted  soul,  therefore, 
that  earnestly  battles  against  evil  thoughts 
and  suggestions  of  his  heart,  be  troubled 
with  the  fear  that,  because  he  is  thus  tempted 
he  is  no  Christian.  Temptations  in  them- 
selves prove  nothing,  as  regards  personal 
character,  one  way  or  the  other.  It  is  the 
disposal  which  a  man  makes  of  his  tempta- 
tions, which  shows  what  he  is,  which  proves 
whether  he  is  a  Christian  or  not.  And  hence 
the  very  fact  that  we  do  resist  temptations  to 
sin ;  that  our  wills  refuse  to  yield  to  them ; 
78 


'  Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

that,  as  Christians,  we  pray  and  weep  and 
war  against  them;  all  this  is  proof  of  Grace 
within  us,  and  is  evidence  that  we  are  Chris- 
tians ;  disciples  of  that  Savour  who  was  Him- 
self "tempted  in  all  points  even  as  we  are, 
yet  without  sin."  And,  feeing  thus  an  evi- 
dence of  a  work  of  Grace,  we  ought,  as  the 
Apostle  says :  "count  it  all  joy  when  we  fall 
into  divers  temptations,"  knowing  that  temp- 
tations prove  us,  develop  us,  strengthen  us ; 
and  remembering  that  itemptation  itself  is  no 
sin;  that  simply  to  be  tempted  does  not  make 
us  guilty ;  and  that  it  is  only  when  we  adopt 
the  temptation,  approve  of  it,  love  it,  yield  to 
it,  only  then  it  becomes  ours,  and  only  then 
we  become  guilty. 

The  means  of  overcoming  temptation,  or 
the  means  of  avoiding  being  overcome  by  it, 
which  God  has  placed  within  our  power,  are, 
I  may  now  yet,  in  conclusion,  remark,  vari- 
ous. 

a.  The  first  and  best  means  of  all,  if  pos- 
sible, is  to  avoid  meeting  temptation.  Our 
duty  is,  neither  to  be  nor  go  nor  stay  any- 
where where  temptation  will  be  Hkely  to  as- 
79 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

sail  us.  For  to  go  into  the  way  of  sin  is  real- 
ly to  tempt  ourselves ;  and  then  if  we  thus 
throw  ourselves  into  the  way  of  temptation, 
it  is  not  the  Devil  or  the  world  that  tempts 
us,  but  we  ourselves  become  the  tempters 
of  ourselves. 

In  order,  then,  to  avoid  temptation,  unless 
duty  calls  you,  go  not  in  the  way  of  tempta- 
tion. Control  your  eyes.  Rule  your  ears. 
Govern  your  feet.  Bridle  your  tongue.  Curb 
your  passions.  Say  to  them  all :  "Enter  not 
into  the  path  of  the  wicked;  go  not  in  the 
way  of  evil  men ;  avoid  it,  pass  not  by  it,, 
turn  away  from  it,  and  pass  away."  This  is 
the  especial  safety  of  the  young.  Thus  avoid 
the  theatre,  the  billiard  room,  the  gaming 
table,  the  liquor  saloon,  the  evil  companion, 
the  bad  book.  Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle 
not;  see  not,  hear  not;  then  only  are  you 
safe.  "Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not 
into  temptation." 

b.  A  second  great  aid  to  overcome  temp- 
tation is  to  cultivate  an  abiding  sense  of 
God's  observing  presence. 

The  murderer,  as  with  stealthy  tread  he 
80 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

creeps,  at  the  still  hour  of  midnight,  towards 
his  victim,  forgets  that  God  sees  him.  Did 
he  but  remember  that,  he  would  at  once  be 
moved  to  turn  back  from  his  crime.  Did 
he  but  look  up,  and,  in  that  lonely  star 
that  breaks  through  the  rifted  cloud  above 
him,  see,  as  he  ought  to  see,  the  eye  of  Omni- 
science flashing  down  upon  him ;  and  hear, 
as  he  ought  to  hear,  God's  voice  saying  to 
him,  "Thou  shalt  not  kill;"  at  once  his  be- 
numbed conscience  would  awake,  his  bloody 
purpose  would  flee  from  his  heart,  and  he 
would  shrink  from  the  commission  of  the 
dreadful  deed.  And  so  with  all  of  us.  We 
commit  sin;  we  trifle  with  and  yield  to 
temptation;  we  indulge  in  evil  thoughts  and 
words  and  deeds,  all  because  we  forget  that 
everywhere  and  always  God  is  near  us,  that 
God  sees  and  hears  and  knows  us,  and  that 
God,  according  to  our  life  now,  will  here- 
after judge  and  reward  us.  To  be  delivered 
from  being  overcome  by  temptation,  let  us 
all  hourly  then,  with  Hagar,  remember, 
"Thou  God  seest  me;"  with  Joseph,  when 
tempted,  let  us  think  of  God,  and  say :  "How 
8i 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

can    I    do    this    great   evil    and    sin    against 
God." 

c.  A  third  means  of  avoiding  being  over- 
come by  temptation,  is  watchfulness.  Sol- 
diers, by  watching  for  the  foe,  escape  sur- 
prise and  defeat.  Sailors,  by  watching, 
escape  the  dangerous  rocks.  Firemen,  by 
watching,  perceive  the  first  symptoms  of  the 
kindled  and  destroying  flame.  And  so  all 
who  wish  to  escape  being  overcome  by 
temptation,  and  especially  by  temptations  to 
whatever  is  your  besetting  sins,  must  watch. 
You  must  be  upon  your  constant  guard.  You 
must  be  vigilant  against  sin.  Knowing  your 
weakness,  knowing  the  strength  and  skill  of 
your  foes,  your  eye  must  ever  be  open,  your 
ear  must  be  ever  quick  to  detect  the  slight- 
est sound,  and  your  hand  |and  tongue  and 
heart  must  be  ever  in  an  attitude  of  brave 
and  earnest  defense.  Remember  the  words 
of  the  Master:  "What  I  say  unto  you,  I 
say  unto  all,  watch."  And  especially  must 
we  watch  against  little  sins,  beginnings  of 
evil. 

d.     A  fourth  aid  by  which  to  resist  tempta- 
82 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

tion  is  a  fullness  of  the  Word  of  God.  Thus 
[esus  resisted  temptation.  In  response  to 
each  of  Satan's  assaults  He  quoted  Scripture. 
His  one  answer  to  all  the  enemy's  allure- 
ments was :  "It  is  written."  Like  the  Mas- 
ter let  us  then,  first  of  all,  be  full  of  God's 
Word;  let  us  have  it  in  our  hearts  and  in 
our  memories,  and  then,  when  temptations 
come,  let  us  use  it.  Let  us  both  have  the 
Sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  Word  of 
God,  and  know,  when  in  Spiritual  danger, 
how  to  handle  it.  There  is  nothing  Satan  is 
so  helpless  before  as  God's  Word.  Keep 
it  well  in  heart  and  hand  then,  oh  Christian, 
and  with  it  "resist  the  Devil  and  he  will  flee 
from  you." 

e.  But,  once  more,  another  and  last 
means,  which  I  shall  mention,  by  which  we 
may  avoid  being  overcome  by  temptation,  is 
Prayer. 

In  other  words,  we  must  do  just  what 
Jesus  here  in  our  text  enjoins;  viz.,  lift  up 
our  hearts  and  voices  for  spiritual  help  to 
God.  We  must  cry  out  to  Him :  "And  lead 
us  not  into  temptation,"  i.  e.,  "Give  us  Thy 
.       ■      ■  83         .     .  ,  •      , 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

grace  to  resist  temptation,  to  overcome  it, 
and  do  not  suffer  us  to  be  overcome  by  it. 
Allow  us  not  to  be  tempted  above  that  which 
we  are  able  to  bear,  but  with  every  tempta- 
tion, provide  Thou  also  a  way  of  escape." 
"'Watch  and  pray,"  says  Christ  to  every 
disciple  of  His,  "lest  ye  enter  into  tempta- 
tion," i.  e.,  enter  into  it  voluntarily  and  are 
then  overcome  by  it  and  fall  into  sin.  And 
not  only  pray,  He  says,  but  watch  also.  Both 
watch  and  pray.  By  watching  see  your  ap- 
proaching danger  and  be  on  the  defensive 
against  it.  By  praying  secure  to  yourself 
God's  Help  in  the  conflict  and  victory  over 
the  temptation. 

Prayer,  then,  is  the  weapon  of  defense 
which  Christ  has  forged  and  polished  for  us, 
and  given  to  us,  and  with  this  glittering 
blade,  grasped  and  held  by  the  strong  hand 
of  Faith,  we  will  always  be  able  to  put  to 
flight  all  our  foes,  and  to  come  off  from 
every  Spiritual  conflict,  more  than  conquer- 
ors. It  is  because  we  pray  so  little,  that,  be- 
ing tempted,  we  fall  so  often.  It  is  because 
we  so  seldom  implore  God's  assistance,  and 
84 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

so  seldom  feel  our  weakness,  and  take  to 
ourselves  His  omnipotent  strength,  that,  like 
Peter,  being  tempted,  we  often  deny  the 
Lord  that  bought  us ;  fall  into  divers  tempta- 
tions, and  are  often  entangled  in  the  snares 
of  the  Devil.  It  is  thus  we  often  wound  the 
Saviour,  reproach  the  church,  and  fill  our 
own  hearts  with  bitter  grief;  all  because  we 
do  not  pray  to  God,  as  Jesus  enjoins,  "And 
lead  us  not  into  temptation."  Let  us  bear 
in  mind  then.  Fellow  Christians,  that  in  order 
to  overcome  temptation,  constant  Divine 
Help  is  needed,  and  that  this  Divine  Help 
can  only  be  secured  by  constant  and  earnest 
Prayer.  "Put  on,  therefore,"  as  Paul  ex- 
horts, "the  whole  armor  of  God :  the  shield 
of  faith,  the  helmet  of  salvation,  the  breast- 
plate of  righteousness,  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit  which  is  the  word  of  God ;  praying  al- 
ways with  all  prayer  and  supplicat^ion  in 
the  spirit,  and  watching-  thereunto  with  all 
perseverance  and  supplication." 

Thus    arm    yourselves,    beloved,    against 
temptation,  and  with  these  divine  weapons 
wage  bravely  and  unflinchingly  the  holy  war- 
85 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

fare  in  which  you  are  engaged,  and  then  also 
will  yours  be  a  glorious  victory  over  all  your 
spiritual  foes,  and  a  triumphant  welcome, 
at  last,  into  the  approving  presence  of  your 
Lord  in  His  celestial  and  eternal  glory. 


86 


THE   PROFITABLENESS  OF 
GODLINESS. 

TEXT. 

"Godliness  is  profitable  unto  all  things,  having 
promise  of  the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  zvhich  is 
to  come." — I  Timothy  iv.  8. 

Our  text  speaks  of  two  lives :  of  the  one  as 
"the  hfe  that  now  is,"  the  Hfe  which  here  on 
earth,  previous  to  death,  we  are  at  present  liv- 
ing; and  of  the  other  as  "the  life  which  is  to 
come,"  the  eternal  or  unending  life  which 
awaits  each  one  of  us,  after  death,  and  beyond 
the  present  life.  , 

These  two  lives  stand  most  closely  related  to 
each  other.  The  one  is,  indeed,  but  the  begin- 
ning of  the  other ;  and  the  second,  or  "the  life 
to  come,"  is  only  the  projection,  the  unfolding, 
the  fruitage  of  this  life  which  now  is.  Accu- 
rately speaking,  they  are  not,  indeed,  two  lives, 
but  only  one  life :  one  life  lived  on  in  two  dif- 
ferent worlds,  and  in  two  different  environ- 
ments and  relationships,  unbroken  by  death, 
87 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

to  the  immortal,  running  on  in  one  unbroken 
current  of  character  and  of  essential  being 
through  all  eternity.  Hence,  the  Scriptures 
unchanged  by  the  transition  from  the  mortal 
declare,  as  they  do,  that  "whatsoever  a  man 
soweth," — soweth  now,  here  in  this  life — 
"that  also  shall"  that  same  man,  as  his  own  har- 
vest, "reap"  in  "the  life  to  come." 

By  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  however, 
this  truth  of  the  essential  oneness  of  these  two 
lives,  the  one  we  now  live  and  the  one  we  will 
forever  live  hereafter,  is  not  practically  recog- 
nized as  it  should  be.  Men  think  of  themselves 
and  of  their  being  and  interests  only  within 
the  narrow  limits  of  this  life  that  now  is ;  and 
they  largely  neglect,  while  here  in  this  life, 
to  live  as  they  ought,  for  that  other  life  "which 
is  to  come" :  to  so  mould  their  character  or 
true  inner  spiritual  being  as  to  be  prepared  for 
that  other  or  future  life,  and  to  make  it  for 
themselves  all  that  God  wishes  them  to  make 
it,  namely,  an  eternal  life  of  joy,  an  immor- 
tality of  bliss  and  of  glory. 

This  mistake  of  thus  forgetting  "the  life  to 
come,"  in  our  absorbed  interest  in  the  things 
88 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

of  "the  life  which  now  is,"  our  text,  this  morn- 
ing, seeks  to  correct.  It  exhibits,  first  of  all, 
the  close  relationship,  the  unbroken  oneness  of 
these  two  lives ;  and  then,  as  its  great  practical 
lesson,  it  tells  us  how  we  may  make  ourselves 
happy  in  them  both.  By  being  godly,  is  its 
declaration,  you  will  be  happy,  both  now  and 
in  eternity.  "Godliness  is  profitable  unto  all 
things,  having  promise  of  the  life  that  now  is, 
and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 

This  is,  indeed,  a  valuable  truth.  It  is  the 
secret  of  a  happy  life,  not  only  now,  but  for- 
ever. It  is  a  secret,  therefore,  worth  knowing 
by  every  human  being.  For  how  to  be  happy, 
both  in  time  and  in  eternity ;  how  to  make  the 
most  of  life,  both  now  and  forever,  in  all  that 
is  best  for  ourselves,  for  our  fellowmen,  for  the 
welfare  of  society,  and  for  the  glory  of  God; 
how  to  attain,  as  the  result  of  our  living,  these 
highest  and  most  blessed  ends  of  life — this  is 
the  one  great  question  that  confronts  us  all. 
Whether  or  not  to  live  is  not  optional  with  us. 
Whether  or  not  we  will  live  eternally  is  not 
ours  to  choose.  God  has  himself  determined 
that  for  us.  We  do  live ;  and  we  will  live  im- 
89 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

mortally.  The  only  choice  left  to  us  is  to  de- 
cide how  we  will  live ;  what  we  will  live  for ; 
by  what  principles  and  moral  motives  we  will 
govern  ourselves  in  our  living :  what  course  in 
our  life  here  we  will  mark  out  for  ourselves, 
and  what  destiny,  as  the  outcome  of  our  life 
here  we  will  achieve  for  ourselves  in  the  life 
hereafter :  for  let  us  ever  remember  that  our 
destiny  eternally  hereafter  is  being  now  deter- 
mined by  each  one  for  himself  in  the  character 
which  here  he  forms  and  in  the  life  which  here 
he  lives. 

The  declaration  of  our  text  is  that  Godliness 
or  Holiness  of  Character  and  Life  is  "profit- 
able" to  a  man,  to  any  man,  both  in  this  present 
life  and  in  the  eternal  life  to  come. 

It  declares, 

I.  That  now,  already  in  this  life,  god- 
liness IS  PROFITABLE. 

This  declaration  of  the  profitableness  of  god- 
liness or  piety  in  this  present  life  is  capable  of 
being  tested  by  experience.  To  this  test  of 
experience  let  us  submit.  Doing  so,  what  do 
we  find?  We  find  the  declaration  true  in  its 
go 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

fullest  sense.  For,  in  what  respect,  or  in  re- 
gard to  what  human  interest,  or  what  relation 
pertaining  to  man,  either  as  an  individual  or 
in  any  of  his  organic  or  social  relations,  is 
Piety  or  Godliness  not  an  advantage?  In 
what  single  respect  that  can  be  named  is  it 
not  profitable  to  him  to  be  a  Christian  ? 

I.  Even  as  regards  the  lowest  part  of  our 
being,  the  merely  physical,  the  Human  Body, 
"Godliness  is  profitable."  It  inculcates  tem- 
perance, self-respect,  industry,  cleanliness,  mas- 
tery of  appetite,  moderation  of  passion,  self- 
government  in  speech  and  temper,  calmness  of 
mind.  It  has  regard,  in  a  word,  for  all  those 
laws  of  physical  being  which  are  the  sure 
sources  and  promoters  of  health.  Hence,  as  a 
mere  "sanitary  regulation,"  as  a  rule  by  which 
"Boards  of  Health"  might  wisely,  in  large 
measure,  be  governed.  Godliness,  or  the  moral 
code  of  Piety,  is  profitable.  Obedience  to 
God's  laws  is  always  better  for  man  physically 
than  disobedience.  For  its  mere  physiological 
benefit  it  is  better  for  him  to  observe,  for  exam- 
ple, the  Divine  Law  concerning  the  Sabbath, 
or  one  day  of  rest  in  seven,  than  to  violate  it. 
91 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Physiologists  are  universally  agreed  that  men 
need,  for  purely  physiological  reasons,  one 
day's  rest  out  of  seven.  There  is  plenty  of  evi- 
dence upon  this  question,  all  pointing  in  the 
same  direction,  and  the  conclusion  is  inevitable 
that  man  cannot  violate  the  law  of  the  Sabbath 
without  physically  losing  by  it.  One  day  of 
rest  out  of  seven  is  a  necessity  to  his  best  phy- 
sical being;  and  hence  when  he  robs  God  of 
the  day,  he  also  robs  himself  of  all  the  great 
mental  and  physical  benefit  which  God,  through 
the  day,  wished  to  confer  upon  him. 

2.  Equally  profitable  is  Godliness  or  Piety 
to  the  intellect  of  man.  All  things  else  being 
equal.  Godliness  is  conducive  to  the  highest 
possible  mental  results  and  to  the  best  possible 
intellectual  efforts.  The  moral  and  Christian 
man  will  always,  even  in  regard  to  things  tem- 
poral, in  regard,  for  example,  to  mechanical 
work,  or  to  special  professional  studies,  or  to 
some  intricate  financial  problem,  think  more 
clearly  and  more  correctly  than  will  an  equally 
endowed  man  intellectually  who  is  immoral  or 
un-Christian,  or  than  would  or  could  that  same 
man  if  he  were  not  a  moral  and  Christian  man. 
92 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

The  good  condition  of  body  which  he  secures 
to  himself  by  his  piety  will  already  largely  help 
him  to  these  higher  and  greater  possibilities : 
for  great  is  the  help  which  comes  to  the  mind 
from  a  healthy  and  clean  and  sound  body.  But, 
above  all,  God,  in  answer  to  prayer,  also  gives 
mental  clearness  and  power  to  the  good  man 
and  aids  him  to  reach  the  mental  results  after 
which  he  seeks.  Galileo,  Columbus,  Coperni- 
cus, Newton,  Bacon,  Kepler,  Franklin,  Morse, 
Field,  and  multitudes  more,  whose  names  are 
illustrious  in  the  world  of  science  and  letters, 
were  all  men  of  prayer.  Luther's  famous 
aphorism  is  a  true  one :  "To  have  prayed  well 
is  to  have  studied  well."  Or,  as  the  Apostle 
James  long  ago  put  it :  "If  any  man  lack  wis- 
dom, let  him  ask  of  God,  who  giveth  unto  all 
men  liberally  and  upbraideth  not,  and  it  shall 
be  given  him." 

Undoubtedly  this  is  true.  The  mind,  as  well 
as  the  body,  suffers  through  indulgence  in  sin ; 
and  mind  as  well  as  body  is  kept  healthy  and 
is  made  strong,  and  is  helped  into  its  highest 
and  best  possible  development  by  godliness,  or 
by  abstinence  from  indulgence  in  sin. 
93 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

3.  But  godliness  is  profitable,  also,  to  suc- 
cess in  what  may  be  called  a  business  career. 

In  the  long  run,  it  always  pays  best,  even  in 
business,  to  be  a  good  man.  The  reason  is 
evident.  Godliness,  or  piety,  makes  men  sober, 
economical,  prudent,  generous,  honest,  just, 
industrious,  kind,  cheerful,  obliging;  all  of 
which  are  essential  elements  to  permanent  and 
honorable  business  success ;  and  the  result  of 
all  this  is  the  creation  for  themselves  of  a  "rep- 
utation" which  will  secure  for  them  the  con- 
fidence and  patronage  of  hosts  of  their  fellow- 
men.  To  be  a  good  man  and  to  be  known  as 
such,  is  about  as  fine  a  business  capital,  there- 
fore, as  any  one  may  want. 

Some  years  ago  a  young  man,  not  far  away 
from  here,  clerking  in  a  store,  refused  to  make 
a  fraudulent  entry  by  which  his  employers 
would  have  made  several  hundred  dollars.  He 
was  dismissed.  Seeking  another  situation,  and 
being  asked  to  give  references,  he  referred  to 
his  former  employers.  And,  strange  to  say, 
they  gave  him  the  best  possible  recommenda- 
tion, verbally  adding  that  he  was  perhaps  "a 
little  too  conscientious  about  trifles."  That 
I- J 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

young  man  is  to-day  a  partner  in  one  of  the 
largest  firms  in  Boston. 

Yes !  Piety  pays  in  business.  Honesty  is 
not  only  the  best  ethics,  but  it  is  also  really  the 
best  policy.  "A  good  name,"  as  a  business 
capital,  "is  rather  to  be  chosen  than  great 
riches."  Even  men  who  are  themselves  unscru- 
pulous appreciate  and  want  to  deal  with  men 
who  are  scrupulous — men  who  have  conscience 
and  whom  nothing  can  swerve  from  their  in- 
tegrity. , 

Young  men  had  better,  once  for  all,  learn  this 
lesson,  that  genuine  integrity  of  character, 
purity  of  morals,  right  living,  loyalty  to  con- 
science :  in  a  word,  godliness,  or  the  filial  fear 
of  God,  is  a  factor  of  success  in  business,  or  in 
any  avocation  of  life  carried  on  between  man 
and  man. 

4.  Especially,  however,  is  godliness  profit- 
able in  the  spiritual  results  which  it  secures  to 
him  who  possesses  it. 

How  rich  the  gifts  which  it  bestows  upon 

him.     It  gives  him  quietness  of  conscience ; 

sense  of  security  under  the  fatherly  protection 

and  love  of  God ;   assurance  of  the  pardon  of 

95 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

his  sins;  peace  of  soul,  through  faith  in  the 
blood  of  Christ;  support  by  divine  grace  in 
times  of  sorrov^r ;  comfort  from  his  trust  in  the 
Word  of  God;  blessed  joy  in  prayer  and  in 
the  worship  of  God ;  hope  of  eternal  life  after 
this  present  life.  All  these  are  spiritual  gifts 
enjoyed  by  him  who  is  truly  a  child  of  God ; 
who  possesses,  in  his  character  and  life,  this 
spiritual  characteristic  designated  here  In  our 
text  by  this  one  significant  word — "godliness." 
Reviewing,  then,  what  we  have  now  said : 
"Godliness,"  already  in  this  life,  or  in  what 
pertains  to  us  now,  in  our  present  existence,  is 
"profitable."  It  is  gain  to  us,  in  every  way, 
all  through  our  journey  of  life  on  earth,  to 
be  "godly."  As  Solomon,  three  thousand 
years  ago  already,  wrote,  so  may  we  now  say : 
"Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom,"  (that 
is,  piety,  godliness,  the  fear  of  the  Lord),  "and 
the  man  that  getteth  understanding;  for  the 
merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the  merchan- 
dise of  silver,  and  the  gain  thereof  than  fine 
gold.  She  is  more  precious  than  rubies,  and 
all  things  that  thou  canst  desire  are  not  to  be 
compared  unto  her.  Length  of  days  is  in  her 
96 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

right  hand,  and  in  her  left  hand,  riches  of 
honor.  Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness 
and  all  her  paths  are  peace." 

Hence,  even  if  this  present  life  were  our 
only  life,  if  death  ended  all,  if  there  were  no 
"life  to  come,"  it  would  still  be  wisdom  to  be 
godly,  it  would  still  be  gain  to  a  man  to  be  a 
Christian. 

But  this  is  not  our  only  life.  The  life  which 
now  is  does  not  terminate  the  duration  of  our 
being.  After  this,  and  beyond  this,  there  is 
yet  for  us  all  "the  life  to  come,"  the  eternal 
life,  the  life  which  is  the  continuance,  the  fruit- 
age, the  unending  harvest  of  this  life,  "which 
now  is." 

And  godliness,  says  our  text,  is  profitable 
also  for  that  life.    It  declares  that : 

n.     Godliness,  for  that  life  which  is  to 

COME,  is  especially  PROFITABLE. 

"Profitable,"  it  says,  "not  only  for  the  life 
that  now  is,  but  also,  or  especially,  for  that 
which  is  to  come." 

But,  in  what  respects  is  godliness  profitable 
for  "the  life  to  come"?    Tn  every  way. 
97 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

As  all  Christian  experience  proves,  it  is  prof- 
itable when  we  once  come  to  enter  into  that 
life  which  is  to  come.  The  entrance  into  the 
future  life  is  by  that  mysterious  experience 
which  we  call  death.  Dying,  in  other  words, 
only  expresses  the  silent  and  invisible  flight  of 
the  human  spirit  out  of  this  life  that  now  is, 
into  that  other  life — the  life  which  is  to  come. 
We  know  but  little  really  about  this  experience 
called  dying.  It  must,  however,  be  a  very  sol- 
emn experience.  It  is  going  from  the  tried  to 
the  untried  ;  from  the  known  to  the  unknown  ; 
from  the  seen  to  the  unseen.  It  is  not  strange, 
therefore,  that  men,  almost  universally,  fear 
to  die. 

But  "godliness"  is  "profitable"  in  death. 
Why?  Why  because  "the  sting  of  death  is 
sin."  But  to  a  godly  man  that  sting  of  death 
has  been  removed.  His  sins  are  all  canceled. 
The  record  against  him  is  clear.  His  guilt  is 
all  washed  away  in  the  blood  which  was  shed 
for  him  on  Calvary,  and  in  which  he  has  trust- 
ed, and  does  then  trust,  for  salvation.  Christ 
is  his  righteousness.  In  Christ,  or  through  the 
imputed  holiness  of  Christ,  he  then  stands  just- 
98 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ified  before  God,  as  though  he  were  himself 
without  sin,  or  entirely  holy.  And  hence,  be- 
ing thus  fully  at  peace  with  God,  through 
Christ;  and  being  thus,  because  of  Christ's 
work  for  him  and  the  Holy  Spirit's  work 
within  him,  prepared  to  meet  God,  he  dies  in 
peace.  He  does  not  fear  to  enter  into  "the 
life  to  come."  Untried  and  unknown  as  its 
experiences  to  him  are,  he  yet  knows  that 
death  to  him  is  "gain" ;  that  it  will  introduce 
him  into  a  life  of  ineffable  and  eternal  bliss, 
compared  with  which  the  highest  and  purest 
joys  of  this  present  or  earthly  life  are  not 
worthy  to  be  named. 

Thus  sustained,  the  Christian  or  godly  man 
goes  up  in  death,  without  a  fear,  cheered  with 
a  sure  hope  of  a  blessed  immortality,  to  meet 
his  God.  His  "godliness"  is  then  "profitable" 
to  him.  His  faith,  as  a  Christian,  then  sup- 
ports him.  Going  out  of  the  life  that  now  is, 
he  enters  joyously  into  that  which  is  to  come. 
Pausing,  for  a  moment,  in  that  dying  hour, 
upon  the  boundary  line,  the  narrow  isthmus 
between  time  and  eternity,  he  first,  we  may 
imagine,  casts  one  glance  back  over  the  past, 
99 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

and  then,  looking  forward  to  his  new  and  bet- 
ter and  eternal  future  home,  he  passes  tri- 
umphantly over,  exclaiming  as  he  soars  away : 

"The  world  recedes  !     It  disappears  ! 
Heaven  opens  on  my  eyes  !    My  ears 

With  sounds  seraphic  ring ! 
Lend,  lend  your  wings !    I  mount !    I  fly ! 
Oh  Grave,  where  is  thy  victory? 

Oh  Death,  where  is  thy  sting?" 

Thus  dies  the  Christian !  Thus  only  dies  the 
Christian.  No  one  but  he  can  thus  die.  God- 
liness alone  enables  man  thus  to  die  in  peace 
and  in  triumph.  The  lamp  of  the  wicked,  in 
a  dying  hour,  goes  out  in  darkness.  The  hope 
of  the  hypocrite  then  perishes.  The  world's 
sources  of  comfort  then  all  fail.  But  the  foun- 
dations of  God  then  stand  sure.  The  rock 
upon  which  the  Christian  has  built  his  hopes 
abides  immovable.  His  light  goes  not  out.  He 
knows  "whom  he  has  believed,  and  is  persuaded 
that  he  is  able  to  keep  that  which  he  has  com- 
mitted to  him  against  that  day." 

"Let  reason  vainly  boast  her  power 
To  teach  her  children  how  to  die ; 

100 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

The  sinner,  in  a  dying  hour, 

Needs  more  than  wisdom  can  supply. 
A  view  of  Christ,  the  sinner's  friend. 
Alone  can  cheer  him  in  the  end." 

But  "godliness,"  or  piety,  avails  also  beyond 
death,  or  in  the  life  eternal  which  follows 
death.  "Godliness,"  says  our  text,  "is  profit- 
able unto  all  things,  having  promise  of  the  life 
that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 

Promise  of  "the  life  to  come,"  in  what  sense  ? 
Not,  I  answer,  as  regards  the  fact  of  a  life  to 
come.  For  there  is  a  life  to  come  to  all  men, 
whether  godly  or  ungodly.  Death  is  annihila- 
tion neither  to  the  righteous  nor  to  the  un- 
righteous. Immortality  is  unconditioned  by 
moral  character.  "Marvel  not  at  this,"  says 
Christ,  "for  the  hour  is  coming  in  the  which 
all  that  are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  the  voice 
of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  shall  come  forth ;  they 
that  have  done  good  unto  the  resurrection  of 
life  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the 
resurrection  of  damnation."  Concerning  the 
wicked,  in  the  Day  of  Judgment,  He  says: 
"These  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punish- 
ment, but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal." 

lOI 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

But  the  meaning  is :  that  to  the  "godly,"  or 
"pious,"  there  is  the  divine  promise  of  a  happy 
eternal  life  to  come ;  that  their  immortality 
shall  be  to  them  a  life  of  unending  felicity ;  a 
blessing,  and  not  a  curse ;  a  fellowship  forever 
with  God  in  bliss,  and  not,  as  to  the  wicked, 
a  banishment  forever  from  His  presence  in 
suffering  and  death. 

And  the  godly  shall  thus  be  eternally  in  such 
blessed  fellowship  with  God,  because  they  are 
in  moral  character  fitted  thus  to  be  with  Him. 
Their  "godliness"  is  their  moral  qualification 
for  God.  Only  holy  souls  can  dwell  with  the 
holy  God.  Only  such  would  God  allow  to 
dwell  with  Him,  or  enjoy  having  with  Him. 
"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,"  the  holy  in 
character,  "for  they  shall  see  God."  They 
alone  can  see  Him ;  that  is,  see  Him  and  enjoy 
seeing  Him  ;  see  Him  and  live  blissfully  in  the 
moral  glory  and  ineffable  holiness  of  His  ma- 
jestic and  august  presence. 

Let  us  not  forget  this  truth.  Godliness  is 
essentially  necessary  in  order  to  enjoy  God, 
either  now  or  in  eternity.  To  be  happy  with 
God,  there  must  always  first  be  right  moral  and 

102 


Ijoy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

spiritual  relations  toward  God.  The  character 
of  man  must  first  be  in  moral  harmony  with 
God.  Happiness  and  holiness  are  eternal  cor- 
relatives. Even  God  could  not  be  happy  if  He 
were  not  holy.  He  is  infinitely  happy  because 
He  is  infinitely  holy.  So  man,  to  be  happy, 
must  be  holy.  To  be  with  God,  and  to  enjoy 
God,  and  to  share  the  happiness  of  God,  he 
must  first  of  all  be  like  God.  "Godliness," 
Godlikeness,  God-fulness,  God-oneness,  this,  in 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  is,  therefore,  the 
absolutely  necessary  moral  requirement  in  or- 
der to  attain  to  a  blissful  immortality  with  God 
"in  the  life  to  come." 

But,  whilst  the  godly  only  can  thus  see  and 
enjoy  God,  all  who  are  godly  will  see  and  en- 
joy Him,  They  do  so  now  already.  The  good 
now  see  and  enjoy  God ;  in  His  works,  in  His 
word,  in  His  providence,  in  blessed  spiritual 
communion  with  Him;  see  and  enjoy  God 
where  the  wicked  have  no  conception  whatever 
of  His  presence.  And  they  will  do  so  eter- 
nally: for  it  is  divinely  promised  to  them. 
Thus  the  "Godliness"  of  the  good  man  quali- 
fies him  for  an  eternal  vision  of  God ;  and  the 
103 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

word  of  God,  because  he  is  godly,  guarantees 
it  to  him. 

But  GodHness,  I  yet  add,  is  the  measure  also 
to  each  one  of  us,  of  the  "life  to  come."  I 
mean  by  that :  that  the  degree  of  our  bliss  in 
the  "life  to  come"  will  be  determined  by  the 
degree  of  our  personal  "holiness,"  or  "godli- 
ness" to  which  in  "the  life  which  now  is,"  we 
attain,  and  with  which  at  death  we  enter  from 
this  life  into  that  "life  which  is  to  come." 
"Holiness"  is  the  soul's  moral  capacity  for  the 
enjoyment  of  God,  and  of  all  that  constitutes 
the  high  bliss  of  "the  life  to  come."  The  meas- 
ure, therefore,  of  our  personal  holiness  will, 
to  each  one  of  us,  be  also  the  measure  in  heaven, 
through  all  eternity,  of  our  personal  happiness. 

Hence  God  says  to  all  who  hope  for  an 
eternal  life  with  Him,  "Be  ye  holy,  for  I  am 
holy" :  that  is,  "Be  holy,  for  without  holiness, 
because  of  my  holiness,  you  can  neither  be 
admitted  into  my  presence  nor  enjoy  my  pres- 
ence; and  be  eminently  holy,  for  the  degree 
of  your  holiness  will  be  the  measure  of  your 
soul's  capacity,  when  once  in  My  presence,  of 
being  happy;  of  knowing  and  loving  and  en- 
104 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

joying  Me,  and  of  coming  eternally  into  closer 
and  holier  oneness  with  Me." 

Since  piety  is  thus  beneficial  to  us  in  all  our 
relations  both  to  God  and  man,  since  it  thus 
promotes  our  highest  welfare  now  and  for- 
ever, since  it  thus  gives  us  all  we  need  for  both 
body  and  soul,  for  both  time  and  eternity,  pi- 
ety, surely,  is  also  the  one  thing  which,  above 
all  others,  we  should  seek  after  and  cultivate. 
The  fear  of  the  Lord  being  thus  the  beginning 
of  wisdom,  this  also  should  be  the  one  supreme 
attainment  to  which  we  should  all  aspire,  and 
for  which,  above  all  things  else,  we  should 
supremely  live. 

Make  this,  then,  my  hearers,  the  one  high 
ambition  of  your  lives.  Cultivate  Godliness, 
as  the  one  best  boon  of  your  period.  Be  godly, 
come  through  faith  in  Christ  into  right  moral 
relations  with  God ;  be  in  moral  harmony  with 
God,  be  in  character  like  God,  live  in  obedi- 
ence to  God,  seek  in  all  things  to  please  God, 
give  up  your  whole  being  to  the  service  of 
God,  consecrate  all  your  life  in  holy  ambition 
to  glorify  God,  be  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God, 
come  willingly  and  fully  under  the  sway  of 
105 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

the  renewing  and  sanctifying  grace  of  God ; 
in  a  word,  seek  after  "GodHness."  For  he 
who  has  "Godhness"  has  God,  and  he  who 
has  God  can  want  no  more,  but,  in  God,  has 
all ;  all  life,  all  light,  all  holiness,  all  power,  all 
peace,  all  satisfaction,  all  joy;  a  living  spring 
of  blessedness  in  his  soul,  a  fountain  of  pur- 
est spiritual  life,  a  heaven,  whether  he  be 
here  on  earth  or  yonder  in  the  skies;  and 
is  able  ever  to  say:  "I  have  set  the  Lord 
always  before  me;  He  is  the  portion  of  mine 
inheritance ;  because  He  is  at  my  right  hand, 
I  shall  not  be  moved;  therefore  my  heart  is 
glad  and  my  glory  rejoiceth;  my  flesh  also 
shall  rest  in  hope.  Thou  wilt  show  me  the 
path  of  life ;  in  Thy  presence  is  fulness  of 
joy;  at  Thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures 
forevermore." 


T06 


THE  DIVINE  LAW  OF  SELF- 
SURRENDER. 

TEXT. 

"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you:  Except  a  corn  of 
zvheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone, 
but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit." — Jolm 
xii.  24. 

The  Saviour,  in  these  words,  expresses  a 
great  principle  or  law  of  His  spiritual  king- 
dom, namely,  that  by  self-surrender  and  self- 
sacrifice,  and  even  by  self-dying,  will  come 
blessing  and  life,  both  to  ourselves  and  to 
others. 

This  principle,  that  by  death  comes  life,  is 
seen  already  in  the  natural  world.  The  grain 
of  seed  must  not  only  be  cast  into  the  ground, 
but  it  must  also  there  die,  must  surrender 
itself  even  to  death,  must  actually  lay  down  as 
a  sacrifice  its  life,  before  there  can  be  germina- 
tion, growth,  blade,  stalk,  harvest.  But,  in 
or  by  such  self-surrender  and  death  it  gains 
107 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

all  these.  Out  of  its  decay  and  death  there 
comes  a  new  and  higher  life  in  the  growing 
plant.  The  single  grain  that  dies  multiplies 
itself  into  a  hundred  new  and  fresher  grains. 
By  dying  it  lives  more  than  it  lived  while  liv- 
ing.    It  gains  by  losing.  , 

But  this  principle,  thus  true  as  a  law,  in  the 
natural  world,  is  equally  true  in  the  spiritual 
world.  It  governs  in  regard  to  all  moral  and 
spiritual  life  as  truly  as  with  regard  to  all 
merely  material  or  irrational  life. 

Our  Saviour  here  declares  that  even  He 
Himself  is  so  under  this  law  that  He  can 
become  a  true  divine  source  of  salvation  and 
life  to  others  only  by  first  dying,  or  by  first 
surrendering  His  life.  This,  indeed,  is  the 
very  meaning  of  the  text  as  He  here  uses  it. 
Its  primary  reference  is  directly  to  Himself. 
It  is  a  prophecy  primarily  of  His  death,  but 
it  is  also  a  promise  of  life  to  our  dead  world 
from  His  death.  By  His  death  was  to  come 
our  life.  From  His  cross  and  passion  was  to 
spring  up  a  great  harvest  of  benefit  to  all  man- 
kind. His  dying,  like  a  grain  of  seed-corn, 
was  to  be  the  origin,  or  the  source,  of  infinite 
io8 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

blessing  and  mercy  to  millions  of  immortal 
souls.  The  world  was  to  have  life,  but  could 
have  it  only  by  His  death. 

And  what  was  thus  true  in  this  respect  of 
Christ,  is  equally  true,  also,  as  a  law,  or  de- 
termining principle,  with  regard  to  every  dis- 
ciple of  Christ;  and  holds  true,  indeed,  with 
regard  to  every  human  being.  It  is  a  divine 
law  that  men  always  gain  by  being  willing 
first  to  lose.  We  always  acquire  more  only 
by  first  surrendering  what  we  have.  We  re- 
ceive the  good  by  first  parting  with  the  bad ; 
we  receive  the  better  by  first  parting  with  the 
good.  We  live  by  first  dying.  It  is  God's 
law.  The  grain  of  corn  must  first  yield  up 
its  life  before  it  can  multiply  itself  into  new 
life  in  other  and  fresher  grains. 

This  law  of  self-surrender,  thus  taught  in 
our  text,  has  a  two-fold  application  to  the 
Christian  life,  to  a  consideration  of  which  I 
wish,  today,  to  invite  your  attention.  It  ap- 
plies : 

I.  To  entrance  into  a  true  Christian  life, 
and, 

II.  To  continuance  in  the  Christian  life. 

109 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

I  remark  therefore: 

I.     That  this  law  of  self-surrender  is 

THE   DIVINE    CONDITION    OF    ENTRANCE   INTO    A 
TRUE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

It  is  only  by  a  wilhng  surrender  of  that 
which  we  by  nature  have,  and  love,  and  are, 
that  we  can  at  all  become  Christians.  As  our 
text  teaches,  there  must  first  be  the  experience 
in  us  of  death  before  there  can  be  life;  death 
to  our  natural  self-will,  and  selfishness,  and 
sin ;  death  to  our  supreme  love  to  the  world 
and  the  things  of  time  and  sense;  death  to  all 
our  sinful  affections,  and  associations,  and  de- 
sires, and  pleasures,  and  ambitions,  and  hab- 
its. "Old  things,"  in  the  soul,  and  in  the  life, 
must  first  by  voluntary  relinquishment,  as  the 
Scriptures  express  it,  "pass  away"  before  all 
things  in  us  and  to  us  can  become  "new." 
There  must  be  renunciation  first  of  "the  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil,"  before  there  can  even 
be  the  first  step  of  true  entrance  upon  the  new 
life  in  Christ  and  in  holiness.  Over  the  portal 
of  admission  into  the  Kingdom  the  Saviour  has 
written :  "If  any  man  will  come  after  me, 
no 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and 
follow  me." 

Thus  is  the  very  beginning  of  the  Christian 
life  a  surrender,  a  parting  with  what  was  be- 
fore possessed  and  loved,  the  actual  dying  of 
what  formerly  was  the  soul's  very  life.  "He 
that  loveth  his  life  shall  lose  it;  and  he  that 
hateth  his  life  shall  keep  it  unto  life  eternal." 

The  meaning  of  this  is  that  if  any  man  so 
loves  his  merely  natural  life,  and  especially 
his  sinful  life,  that  he  is  not  willing  to  give 
it  up  and  separate  himself  from  it,  he  will,  in 
death,  lose  all  for  which  he  here  thus  lived; 
while  if,  on  the  other  hand,  he  now  comes,  by 
God's  grace,  to  see  the  sinfulness  of  his  natural 
life,  and  renounces  it,  he  shall  then  "keep  his 
life  unto  life  eternal ;"  that  is,  he  shall  then 
have  a  new  and  higher  life  in  holiness  and 
Christ,  which  he  will  never  part  with,  but 
which  will  be  his  blissful  possession  forever. 
In  a  word,  the  Saviour  means  in  what  He  thus 
says,  that  if  a  man  in  any  respect,  so  loves  the 
life  that  now  is ;  the  merely  material,  the  social, 
the  temporal,  the  sensuous,  the  earthly,  and 
is  so  absorbed  in  these  that  he  cannot  and  will 
III 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

not,  for  the  sake  of  Christ  and  for  the  sake 
of  his  soul,  give  them  up,  as  objects  of  su- 
preme affection  and  desire,  he  will,  in  conse- 
quence, find,  at  length,  that  he  has  not  only 
lost  them,  but  has  also  lost  himself,  his  soul,  his 
own  very  being,  his  eternal  life ;  whilst,  on  the 
contrary,  if,  for  Christ's  sake,  and  for  his  soul's 
sake,  he  is  ready  to  part  with  the  sinful  things 
of  this  world,  ready  to  cast  them  from  him 
as  the  farmer  casts  away  the  grain  of  seed 
which  he  sows,  and  if  he  is  willing  to  give  up 
himself,  and  all  he  has  and  is,  as  a  glad  sur- 
render to  Christ,  then  also  will  he,  in  the  high- 
est sense,  keep  himself,  and  then  only  will  he 
truly  keep  himself.  Then  only  will  he  really 
begin  to  live.  His  new  and  eternal  life  comes 
to  him  by  his  surrender  of  his  present  sinful 
self  to  death;  he  saves  by  losing;  he  gives  up 
much,  but  he  gets  back  more  and  better;  he 
dies,  but  he  rises,  at  once,  in  dying,  up  to  a 
new  and  infinitely  higher  and  holier  and  eternal 
life.  The  new  birth  in  Christ  is  always  out  of 
the  soul's  voluntary  death  to  the  old  life  of 
sin.  To  get  back  home  to  his  father's  house, 
the  prodigal,  first  of  all,  must  rise  up  and  leave 

112 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

the  "far  country"  where  before  he  had  dwelled. 
And  this  is  what  conversion  is.  Conversion  is 
simply  turning;  turning  first  from  and  then 
turning  to ;  from  sin  and  self,  to  Christ  and  to 
holiness.  To  gain  God's  favor  we  must  re- 
nounce the  world's  pleasure.  To  reach  heaven 
we  must  part  with  earth.  To  gain,  we  must 
lose.  To  live,  we  must  die.  "Except  a  corn 
of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it 
abideth  alone ;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit." 

And  hence  Bunyan,  in  his  matchless  alle- 
gory, correctly,  represents  Christian,  his  pil- 
grim, as,  first  of  all,  in  order  to  win  the 
heavenly  city,  turning  his  back  on  his  own  na- 
tive earthly  city ;  and  he  represents  him  as 
turning  away  even  from  his  own  family,  and 
from  his  own  best  friends,  because  they  would 
not  go  with  him  to  the  better  life ;  and  he  rep- 
resents him  as  closing  his  ears  to  all  their  ap- 
peals to  him  to  return,  crying,  "Life !  Life ! 
Eternal  life !"  To  gain  that  life,  he  gives  up 
this.  To  win  heaven,  he  loses  earth.  And 
that  is  what  every  one  who  wishes  to  be  saved 
must  do;  for  only  by  doing  so  can  any  one 
ever  gain  that  better  and  eternal  life. 
113 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

This  principle,  which  our  Saviour  here  in  our 
text  declares,  applies  also,  I  now  remark : 

11.  To  THE  WHOLE  CONTINUANCE  OF  THE 
CHRISTIAN  LIFE,  AS  WELL  AS  TO  ITS  BEGINNING. 

It  holds  true  in  our  Christian  life  in  two 
respects,  namely,  both  as  regards  our  useful- 
ness and  our  happiness. 

a.  In  the  matter,  first,  of  doing  good,  or  of 
Christian  usefulness,  this  law  governs  abso- 
lutely. 

In  order  to  bless  others,  we  must  always 
ourselves  first  be  losers.  We  must  unselfishly 
first  give  up  what  we  have,  and  use  what  we 
have,  before  we  can  successfully  do  anything 
for  the  good  of  others.  Look,  for  example, 
at  the  mother.  She  is  a  fountain  of  daily  ben- 
ediction to  her  children.  But  how  does  she 
become  so  ?  Only  by  complete  self-surrender ; 
only  by  unselfish  sacrifice  of  her  own  comfort, 
ease,  time,  strength,  life  itself.  Only  thus, 
only  at  such  cost,  can  she  give  them  what  she 
does.  Look  at  the  teacher !  To  awaken  the 
dormant  intellect  of  the  pupil,  to  stir  his  slum- 
114 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

bering  genius,  and  to  bless  him  with  the  high 
boon  of  education,  how  he  must  tax  his 
thought,  his  interest,  his  patience,  his  scholar- 
ship, his  best  skill  and  power;  and  how  he 
must  pour  out  in  sacrifice  his  very  being  into 
the  pupil.  Look  at  the  orator!  To  instruct, 
to  convince,  to  persuade  his  audience,  to  gain 
with  them  the  point  at  which  he  aims,  how  it 
costs  him  the  expenditure  of  all  his  best  pos- 
sessions ;  his  nerve,  his  knowledge,  his  cul- 
ture, his  power  of  every  kind,  and  how,  to  ef- 
fect his  end,  he  must  spend  his  very  being  and 
lay  his  very  life  upon  the  altar.  Or,  look  at 
the  patriot!  Our  patriotic  soldiers,  who  now 
sleep  in  honored  graves,  sleep  thus  because 
they  unselfishly  laid  down  their  lives  in  de- 
fense of  their  country.  They  might  selfishly 
have  saved  their  lives.  They  might  have  re- 
fused to  enlist  and  march  and  suffer  and  die. 
But  then  their  country  could  not  have  lived. 
Then  the  Union  could  not  have  been  preserved. 
Then  our  nation,  as  one  unbroken  whole,  could 
not  have  survived.  The  life,  the  blood,  the 
death  of  unselfish  heroes  was  the  high  price 
which  must  needs  first  be  paid.  But  they 
lis 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

nobly  paid  that  price.  They  grandly  made 
that  heroic  self-sacrifice.  And  thus,  namely, 
by  themselves  dying,  they  saved  their  country 
from  dying;  and  now,  although  dead,  they  yet 
live  in  the  grateful  memory  of  their  country, 
in  the  principles  that  triumphed,  and  in  the 
cause  which  they  vindicated. 

And  so  general  and  absolute  is  this  law 
that  we  may  safely  say  that  there  is  not  a  sin- 
gle blessing  or  element  in  all  that  today  makes 
up  our  civilization,  our  liberty,  our  comforts, 
our  luxuries,  our  education,  our  homes,  our 
religion,  which  is  not  the  legacy  of  cost,  the 
purchase  of  sacrifice  and  of  unselfishness,  by 
those  who  have  gone  before  us;  the  boon  to 
us  of  pain  and  struggle,  and  labor,  and  skill, 
and  heroism,  and  blood,  and  death  of  others 
gone  before  us.     It  is  God's  irreversible  law. 

And  thus  also,  I  now  remark,  is  it  especially 
in  all  distinctively  Christian  usefulness.  The 
condition  of  being  a  spiritual  blessing  to  others, 
is  this  same  grand  principle  of  unselfish  self- 
surrender.  It  is  the  law  of  Christ,  and  the  law 
of  His  Kingdom  for  all  time,  that  we  cannot 
save  others  without  first  sacrificing  ourselves. 
Ii6 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

There  must  first  be  death ;  death  to  our  selfish- 
ness, to  our  love  of  ease,  to  all  seeking  of  our 
own  comfort,  to  all  consideration  of  our  own 
interests,  and  there  must  be  in  us,  as  there  was 
in  Christ,  a  willingness,  if  need  be,  to  sacri- 
fice even  our  life  itself  in  order  to  save  others, 
before  we  can  become,  in  a  large  measure,  the 
saviours  of  our  fellow  men.  Their  life,  their 
spiritual,  their  eternal  life,  can  only  come,  as  it 
were,  through  our  death.  Only  by  our  spir- 
itual travail  can  they  receive  spiritual  birth. 
"The  blood  of  the  martyrs  has  always  been 
the  seed  of  the  church."  Huss,  and  Ridley, 
and  Latimer,  and  all  "the  noble  army  of  mar- 
tyrs," laid  down  their  lives  for  Christ  and  for 
the  truth;  but  out  from  their  ashes  there  has 
flamed  a  great  pillar  of  Gospel  light  which  has 
scattered  the  surrounding  moral  darkness,  and 
which  has  showed  thousands,  and  even  mil- 
lions, of  other  human  beings,  both  how  to  live 
for  Christ,  and,  if  needs  be,  how,  also,  bravely 
to  die  for  Christ. 

And  thus  it  always  is.    The  measure  of  our 
willingness  to  deny  ourselves  in  order  to  do 
good,  is  the  measure,  also,  of  the  good  that 
117 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

we  actually  will  do.  If  we  do  for  Christ  and 
for  our  fellowmen  only  which  costs  us  noth- 
ing, we  will  do  but  little  good,  and  that  little 
will  scarcely  be  worth  the  doing.  Cost,  sacri- 
fice, self-denial,  toil,  generosity,  self-forgetful- 
ness,  the  laying  down,  every  day,  in  whole  or  in 
part,  of  even  life  itself — this  is  ever  the  divine 
condition  of  usefulness,  the  price  we  must 
ever  pay  in  order  to  be  benefactors  to  our  fel- 
lowmen or  helpers  to  advance  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ  in  the  world.  There  must  be  sacrifice 
before  there  can  be  salvation;  death  before 
there  can  be  life.  That  was  a  very  beautiful 
illustration  of  this  law  recently  given  by  Mr, 
Moody  in  one  of  his  sermons.  One  of  his  lit- 
tle Sunday-school  scholars,  being  very  sick, 
sent  for  him,  and  asked  him,  if  she  died,  to 
preach  her  funeral  sermon.  And  she  gave  this 
reason  for  her  request:  "I  have  been  trying 
so  long  to  bring  father  to  church  and  he  would 
never  come.  But  now,  I  have  been  thinking, 
if  I  die,  father  will  not  refuse  to  go  to  my 
funeral,  and  then  you  can  tell  him  all  about 
Jesus ;  and,  Mr.  Moody,  I  would  be  willing  to 
die  six  times  over  to  get  him  to  hear  you  tell 
ii8 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

about  Jesus."  She  died,  as  she  expected,  but 
Mr.  Moody  himself  was  sick  at  the  time  of  her 
death  and  could  not  attend  her  funeral.  But 
a  few  weeks  after  her  death  a  rough-looking 
man  called  on  him,  and  holding  out  his  hand, 
said:  "You  don't  know  me?"  "No,  I  don't." 
"Well,  I,"  he  said,  "am  the  father  of  little 
Mary,  the  father  she  died  for.  I  heard  how 
she  said  she  would  die  six  times  over  for  me 
if  only  I  could  hear  the  gospel  once.  It  nearly 
breaks  my  heart.  Oh,  I  do  want  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian, so  that  I  can  meet  the  dear  child  again 
in  heaven."  Soon  after  he  united  with  the 
church,  and  has,  ever  since,  now  four  or  five 
years,  been  a  faithful  and  consistent  Christian ; 
led  to  Christ  by  the  mighty  love  for  him  of  his 
child;  a  love  so  great,  so  self-sacrificing,  so 
thoroughly  Christ-like,  that  she  was  glad,  in 
order  to  save  him,  to  die  for  him.  Such  in- 
terest and  such  love  for  others  we  all  need; 
and  only  in  the  measure  in  which  we  have  it 
will  we  be  useful.  Only  as  we  thus  love  souls 
into  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  will  we  win  them 
in  at  all. 

And  here  is  the  secret,  also,  of  post-mortem 
"9 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

usefulness,  or  of  doing  good  after  we  are  dead, 
even  down  to  the  end  of  time.  Of  Abel  it  is 
written  :  "He  being  dead,  yet  speaketh."  So 
it  may  be  said  of  all  of  us  when  once  we  have 
passed  away  from  earth.  But  in  order  that 
we  may  thus  live  on  when  once  we  are  dead, 
we  must  now,  while  we  live,  put  ourselves,  at 
cost  to  ourselves,  into  something  that  will  live 
after  we  are  gone.  Doing  so,  we  can  all  give 
ourselves  a  blessed  double  immortality — an 
immortality  with  Christ  in  heaven,  and  an  im- 
mortality for  Christ  and  for  the  church,  for 
the  good  of  our  fellowmen  and  for  the  glory 
of  God  down  to  the  end  of  time,  here  upon 
earth.  Thus  the  godly  mother  may  live  on 
after  she  is  dead  in  the  godly  life  and  charac- 
ter of  her  children ;  the  pious  author  in  his  pure 
and  helpful  writings ;  the  faithful  teacher  in 
his  influence  and  impress  upon  his  scholars ; 
the  Christian  pastor  in  his  earnest  teachings  of 
God's  word  to  his  people;  the  unselfish  phi- 
lanthropist by  the  liberal  gift  of  his  means. 
Thus  we  all  may  be  immortally  useful. 

But  this  divine  law  of  self-surrender  holds 
true,  also, 

120 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

b.  In  our  Christian  life  as  a  condition  of  our 
own  personal  happiness. 

To  live  to  do  good  is  ever  the  secret  of  a 
truly  happy  life.  Unselfishness  is  the  secret  of 
a  happy  life.  Self-denial  is  God's  highway  to 
joy.  We  make  ourselves  most  happy  when  we 
most  forget  ourselves,  and  most  live  to  make 
others  happy.  He  that  selfishly  lives  only  to 
make  himself  happy,  never  is  happy;  he,  on 
the  other  hand,  who  unselfishly  forgets  him- 
self and  lives  to  do  good  and  make  others 
happy,  in  this  very  act  makes  himself  happy. 
For  happiness  is  a  shy  goddess,  ever  gliding 
farther  and  farther  away  from  those  who  di- 
rectly, and  only  for  their  own  selfish  enjoy- 
ment of  her,  seek  her.  But  happiness  has  a 
twin  sister,  whose  name  is  usefulness,  and  who 
is  always  near  to  each  one  of  us,  and  whom 
we  all  may  daily  find,  and,  finding  whom,  we 
also  find  happiness.  Finding  usefulness  we 
also  find  and  have  happiness. 

Christ,  our  Divine  Lord,  even  in  sight  of  His 
cross,  was  filled  with  joy.  He  was  glad,  we 
read,  even  in  the  agony  of  Gethsemane  and  the 
bitterness  of  Calvary,  because   He   saw   that 

121 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

by  His  death  He  could  give  Hfe  to  our  lost 
world.  "Looking  unto  Jesus,  the  author  and 
the  finisher  of  our  faith,  who  for  the  joy  that 
was  set  before  Him  endured  the  cross,  despis- 
ing the  shame."      , 

And  so,  also,  may  we,  by  Christ-like  self- 
denial  and  self-sacrifice,  both  for  the  bodies 
and  for  the  souls  of  our  fellowmen,  bring  into 
our  own  souls  a  very  floodtide  of  holy  joy. 
"The  quality  of  mercy  is  not  strained.  It  drop- 
peth  as  the  gentle  rain  from  heaven  upon  the 
place  beneath.  It  is  twice  blessed.  It  blesseth 
him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes." 

But,  blessed  and  joyous  as  is  thus  a  life  of 
Christian  self-denial  and  sacrifice,  for  the  glory 
of  God  and  for  the  good  of  our  fellowmen, 
now  already,  our  highest  reward  and  richest 
return  for  it  all  will,  of  course,  be  in  the  life 
to  come.  The  Saviour,  out  of  love  for  whom 
we  now  do  thus  labor,  and  deny  and  sacrifice 
ourselves,  sees  and  knows  and  notes  it  all ;  and 
He  then  will,  also,  as  He  has  promised,  re- 
ward it  all.  He  regards  all  we  thus  do  for 
His  church  or  for  our  needy  fellowmen,  as 
evidence  of  our  love  for  Him,  and  as  having 

122 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

been  done  directly  and  personally  for  Himself. 
Hence,  even  the  giving  of  a  cup  of  cold  water 
to  a  thirsty  one,  in  the  name  of  a  disciple,  shall, 
He  assures  us,  have,  from  Him,  its  eternal  re- 
ward. 


123 


RELIGIOUS    DUTY   BETTER 
THAN  RELIGIOUS  EN- 
JOYMENT. 

TEXT. 

"Then  answered  Peter,  and  said  unto  Jesus,  Lord, 
it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here:  if  thou  wilt,  let  us  make 
here  three  tabernacles :  one  for  Thee,  one  for  Moses, 
and  one  for  Elias." — Matthew  xvii.   'i. 

All  things  considered,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
Peter  declared  it  to  be  "good"  to  be  there  on 
the  Mount  of  Transfiguration.  With  the  moun- 
tain all  ablaze,  as  it  was  w^ith  divine  glory ; 
with  the  Saviour's  form  radiant  above  the 
brightness  of  the  sun ;  with  the  presence  and 
conversation  of  Moses  and  Elijah,  who  had 
just  descended  from  the  celestial  world ;  with 
a  bright  cloud  of  light  overshadowing  and  en- 
veloping them  with  its  unearthly  lustre ;  with 
the  voice  of  God  speaking  out  of  the  cloud  and 
saying  to  them :  "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased ;  hear  ye  Him'' ;  with 
all  this,  and  with  yet  much  more  filling  his  cup 
of  religious  enjoyment  to  overflowing,  it  is,  I 
124 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

say,  no  wonder  that  Peter  felt  glad  to  be  there, 
and  that  he  desired  there  also  forever  to  re- 
main. Speaking  as  he  feU,  it  is  not  strange 
that  he  exclaimed,  as  he  did :  "Lord,  it  is  good 
for  us  to  be  here ;  good  to  be  here  and  good, 
also,  to  stay  here.  Here,  in  the  bliss  of  this 
holy  mount,  let  us  abide.  If  thou  wilt,  let  us 
here  make  three  tabernacles,  one  for  Thee,  one 
for  Moses,  and  one  for  Elias." 

And  Peter  was  right,  as  he  appreciated  the 
situation,  in  what  he  thus  said.  It  was  good 
to  be  there,  so  far  as  Peter  himself  was  con- 
cerned, and  so  far  as  mere  present  religious 
enjoyment  was  concerned. 

And  yet  his  proposal  was  sadly  defective 
and  wrong,  viewed  in  a  broader  and  better 
light.  In  wishing  as  he  did  to  stay  there,  in 
selfishly  forgetting  the  sinful  and  suffering 
world  down  at  the  foot  of  the  mount,  in  mak- 
ing more  of  mere  religious  enjoyment  than  of 
the  higher  claims  of  religious  duty,  in  thinking 
more  of  himself,  and  of  the  immediate  present, 
than  of  his  obligations  to  others  and  in  forget- 
ting that  he  himself  was  under  discipline  for 
an  eternal  and  heavenly  life,  of  which  all  that 
125 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

transfig-uration  glory  was  only  the  faintest 
symbol  or  foreshadowing,  in  all  these  respects 
his  proposal  was  greatly  defective.  Good  to 
be  there?  Yes  !  But  not  best  to  remain  there. 
Why  not?  Simply  because  God  had  better 
things  in  store  for  Peter  than  that  joy  of  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration,  ecstatic  as  that  was. 
He  purposed  bringing  him  to  Mount  Zion  on 
high,  to  an  infinitely  greater  glory,  to  the  un- 
veiled radiance  of  Christ,  his  Master,  in  His 
celestial  and  eternal  kingdom,  to  the  presence 
and  companionship,  not  of  Moses  and  Elijah 
only,  but  of  all  the  countless  multitudes  of  the 
redeemed,  and  of  all  the  innumerable  hosts  of 
angels  around  the  throne  of  God  in  His  eter- 
nal presence.  But  Peter  was  far  from  being 
yet  prepared  for  this  glorious  heavenly  life. 
He  needed  a  discipline  which  no  mere  joyous 
experiences  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration 
could  give  him ;  which  no  mere  sitting  there 
and  quietly  beholding  the  revealed  glory  of 
Christ,  delightful  as  that  was,  could  work 
within  him,  but  which  only  stern  and  unflinch- 
ing and  brave  fidelity  to  Duty,  which  only  the 
rough  and  painful  experiences  of  contact  and 
126 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

conflict  with  a  wicked  world,  which  only  the 
sharp  and  lacerating  discipline  of  labor  and 
suffering  and  even  of  martyrdom  itself,  for 
Christ,  could  and  finally  would  bestow  upon 
him.  The  way  for  Peter,  as  also  for  each  one 
of  us,  and  for  all  Christ's  disciples,  and  even 
for  our  Divine  Master  Himself  by  which  to 
attain  to  heaven  and  to  eternal  life,  leads  not 
up  from  the  bliss  and  glory  of  the  Mount  of 
Transfiguration,  but  is  always  trodden  with 
bleeding  feet,  slowly,  through  the  darkness  of 
the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  and  around  the 
brow  of  Calvary. 

Hence,  though,  as  a  matter  of  enjoyment, 
it  was  "good"  for  Peter  to  be  there  with  Christ 
on  the  Mount,  it  still  would  not,  as  he  re- 
quested, have  been  good  for  him  to  have  re- 
mained there.  Religious  duty,  patient  labor, 
quiet  suffering,  holy  living,  victorious  dying, 
down  at  the  foot  of  the  Mount,  and  out  amid 
the  noise  and  dust  and  conflict  of  the  busy 
world,  trying  to  win  it  to  Christ  and  seeking 
to  save  it  by  the  power  of  the  Gospel — that, 
for  Christ,  for  Peter,  and  for  the  world  would 
be  infinitely  better.  Jesus  wanted  no  Taber- 
127 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

nacles  built,  as  quiet  places  of  mere  enjoyment, 
neither  for  Himself  nor  for  any  of  His  dis- 
ciples, there  in  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration. 
With  Him  Religious  Duty,  then  and  always, 
was  before  mere  religious  enjoyment ;  and  He 
then  and  always  regarded  Religious  Enjoy- 
ment as  valuable  only  in  so  far  as  it  was  helpful 
in  any  way  to  the  better  discharge  of  Religious 
Duty. 

This  lesson  Jesus  still  teaches  His  disciples. 
He  takes  us,  at  times^  up  into  Blessed  Spiritual 
Mounts,  not,  however,  to  stay  in  the  glory  of 
them ;  not  for  the  mere  sake  of  the  enjoyment 
itself,  as  an  end,  which  we  may  there  experi- 
ence, but  in  order  that  we  may  in  these  Mounts 
gather  strength  and  encouragement  for  the 
Christian  duties  which  lie  in  our  pathway  of 
life,  and  which  meet  us  down  at  the  foot  of 
these  Transfiguration  Elevations. 

Two  Questions  may  profitably,  in  our  con- 
sideration of  this  text,  engage  our  thoughts, 
namely : 

I.  Why  was  it  good,  as  Peter  declared,  to 
be  there  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration  with 
Christ?    And, 

128 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

11.  Why  would  it  not  have  been  good,  as  he 
wanted,  to  have  remained  there  with  Christ? 

Let  us  consider  each  of  these  questions  in 
the  order  stated.     First,  then,  we  ask : 

I.     Why,  as  peter  declared,  was  it  good 

FOR   HIM   AND   JAMES  AND  JOHN   TO  BE  THERE 
WITH  JESUS  ON  THE  MOUNT. 

One  reason  manifestly  lies  in  the  very  fact 
that  Jesus  Himself  had  taken  them  there. 

"And  after  six  days,  Jesus,"  we  read,  "tak- 
eth  Peter,  and  James,  and  John,  his  brother, 
and  bringeth  them  up  into  a  high  mountain 
apart,  and  was  transfigured  before  them."  They 
were,  therefore,  at  that  time,  just  where  Jesus 
wanted  them  to  be.  It  is  always  good  to  be 
where  Jesus  wants  us  to  be ;  where  He  takes 
us,  or  where  He  bids  us  go,  or  where  He  goes 
with  us,  and  where  we  can  know  and  feel  that 
He  is  with  us.  He  does  not  always  want  us 
in  the  same  place,  even  though  it  be  in  itself 
the  holiest  or  best  place.  Just  then  He  wanted 
Peter,  James  and  John  in  the  Mount.  The 
very  next  day,  however.  He  wanted  them  down 
with  Him  in  the  World.  So  with  us.  Our  place 
129 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

today  is  in  the  Prayer-meeting,  or  at  the  Com- 
munion Table ;  tomorrow  it  is  in  our  shop  or 
store,  or  nursery.  Jesus  calls  us  to  all  these, 
and  is  with  us  in  all  these.  There  is  a  proper 
time  for  worship,  and  another  proper  time  for 
work;  a  time  for  enjoyment,  and  a  time  for 
energy;  a  time  for  devotion,  and  a  time  for 
duty;  a  time  for  the  gathering  of  spiritual 
strength,  and  a  time  for  the  expenditure  of 
that  strength;  a  time  to  sing,  and  a  time  to 
sufifer ;  a  time  to  be  on  the  Mount,  and  a  time 
to  be  down  amid  the  dust  and  toil  and  sweat 
of  service  for  Christ  and  for  humanity.  And 
wherever  Jesus  calls  us  to  go  or  be,  there,  at 
that  time,  we  ought  also  to  go  or  be,  and  there 
it  will  then  also  be  good  for  us  to  be.  And 
there  we  can  then  say :  "Lord,  it  is  good  to  be 
here." 

That  Mount  Hermon,  where  the  Transfig- 
uration took  place,  was,  in  itself,  no  very  de- 
sirable place  to  be.  It  was  difficult  to  ascend, 
was  rough,  bleak,  cold,  inhospitable.  But,  led 
there  by  the  Saviour,  and  accompanied  thither 
by  His  presence,  it  instantly  became  to  these 
disciples  a  Mount  of  Glory,  a  very  Gateway 
130 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

of  Heaven.  So  pathways  of  Duty,  and  Crosses 
of  Sorrow,  and  days  of  Trial,  Sick  Beds,  Be- 
reavements, Sufferings,  Poverty,  Experiences 
of  any  kind,  if  accompanied  by  Christ's  pres- 
ence and  grace,  become  to  us  also,  such  Blessed 
Mounts,  and  lead  us  also  to  say,  as  Peter  here 
said :  "Lord,  it  is  good  to  be  here."  This  has 
often  been  the  joyous  experience  of  the  disci- 
ples of  Christ. 

Go,  then,  my  hearer,  wherever  duty,  at  the 
time,  bids  you  go.  But  go  nowhere,  and  be 
nowhere  where  Christ  is  not,  and  where  you 
cannot  take  Christ  with  you.  When  Christ 
bids  you,  or  invites  you,  go  up  with  Him  into 
the  Mount :  and  when  He  bids  you,  go  down 
again  into  the  busy  secular  life.  The  one 
place,  with  Christ,  is  as  sacred  as  the  other. 
The  one  duty  is  worship  much  as  the  other. 
We  glorify  Christ,  by  holy  honest  living, 
through  the  week,  as  much  as  we  glorify  Him 
by  singing,  and  praying,  and  preaching,  on 
Sunday.  The  home,  the  shop,  the  mill,  the  of- 
fice, the  market,  the  store,  the  street  with 
Christ  and  in  the  line  of  duty  and  living  there 
for  the  glory  of  God,  is  holy  ground,  and  as 
131 


Jov  in  the  Divine  Government. 

near  heaven  as  the  consecrated  sanctuary,  or 
the  house  of  God.  To  us,  as  to  St.  John,  even 
dreary  islands,  hke  Patmos,  if  we  are  in  com- 
munion with  Christ,  hecome  gateways  of  heav- 
en. 

"While  blessed  with  a  sense  of  His  love, 

A  palace  a  toy  would  appear ; 
And  prisons  would  palaces  prove 

If  Jesus  would  dwell  with  me  there." 

But  it  was  thus  ''good"  to  be  there  upon  that 
Mount  of  Transfiguration  also,  because  there 
Jesus  wondrously  revealed  Himself  to  His  dis- 
ciples. 

There  "His  face,"  we  read,  "did  shine  as  the 
sun,  and  His  raiment  was  white  as  the  light." 
There  they  "beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of 
the  Only  Begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace 
and  truth."  There  the  splendor  of  His  Deity 
shone  out  through  the  Veil  of  His  Humanity, 
and  there  He  stood  revealed  before  them  as 
they  never  had  beheld  Him  before.  And  it 
was  "good"  for  them  thus  to  see  Him  there, 
in  the  radiance  and  glory  of  His  Divinity.  For 
thus  seeing  Him,  it  gave  a  new  and  clearer 
132 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

view  of  His  real  and  true  being.  It  confirmed 
their  faith  in  Him,  and  it  fitted  them  to  go 
down  from  that  Mount,  and  with  new  courage 
and  strength  and  zeal  to  follow  Him  and  to 
confess  Him  everywhere. 

And,  for  this  same  reason,  it  is  good  also 
for  us  often  to  go  up  into  the  Mount  of  our 
Spiritual  Privileges  ;  the  Mount  of  God's  Word 
and  Sacraments,  the  Mount  of  the  Sanctuary. 
It  is  good  for  us  to  ascend  the  Mount  of  Pray- 
er, the  Mount  of  Communion  with  Christ,  be- 
cause thus  we  come  into  holier  and  closer  near- 
ness to  Christ.  In  all  these,  Christ  is  revealed 
more  and  more  clearly  before  us  ;  stands  out,  as 
it  were,  "transfigured"  before  us,  and  we  catch 
new  and  more  precious  views  of  Him  as  our 
Divine  Saviour,  and  because  of  these  new  and 
more  precious  views  of  him,  our  faith  in  Him 
is  strengthened,  our  love  deepened,  our  zeal 
for  His  glory  anew  enkindled,  and  we  come 
down  from  these  "Mounts  of  Communion"  and 
Revelation  animated  anew  to  confess  Him  be- 
fore men,  and  to  live  and  labor,  and,  if  need 
be,  even  die  for  Him.  Yes !  It  is  "good"  to 
go  to  our  Bibles,  to  our  Churches,  to  our  Lord's 
133 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

Tables,  to  our  Closets  of  Prayer,  because  there 
we  see  Jesus  as  we  see  Him  nowhere  else.  On 
the  Mount  and  not  down  in  the  low  plains  of 
earth,  is  His  Temple  and  Means  of  Grace,  and 
not  in  the  world  of  Sin  He  reveals  Himself 
to  us.  , 

Use  faithfully,  then,  my  hearers,  God's  ap- 
pointed Means  of  Grace.  To  see  the  moral  and 
spiritual  glory  of  your  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  go 
to  His  House,  seek  for  Him  in  His  Word,  feed 
upon  Him  in  His  Holy  Supper,  lift  up  your 
Spirit  to  Him  in  prayer.  Thus  look  for  Him, 
and  you  will  see  Him.  Thus  seek  Him,  and 
you  will  find  Him.  Thus  desire  to  behold 
Him,  and  He  will  reveal  Himself  also  glori- 
ously to  you. 

Jt  was  "good,"  however,  also  for  the  disci- 
ples to  be  there  in  the  Mount  of  Transfigura- 
tion with  Christ  because  of  the  holy  joy  which, 
because  of  His  glory,  they  there  experienced. 

,The  revelation  of  the  glory  of  Christ,  which 
he  there  beheld,  filled  Peter's  heart  with  un- 
utterable gladness.  His  cup  of  bliss  was  there 
full.  There  was,  in  that  glad  hour,  a  very 
foretaste  of  heaven  in  his  soul.  His  happiness 
134 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

was  perfect,  and  he  was  wilHng,  if  Christ  so 
willed,  to  build  tabernacles,  and  abide  there 
forever. 

But,  thus  does  Jesus  now  often,  when  His 
disciples  are  in  the  Mount  of  Communion  with 
Him,  gladden  their  hearts  and  fill  them  with 
joy.  How  often,  for  example,  in  the  sanctu- 
ary, is  not  the  Christian's  soul  thus  filled  with 
joy,  so  that  he  says :  "Lord,  it  is  good  to  be 
here."  Especially  at  the  Lord's  table.  What 
a  joyous  Mount  of  Transfiguration  there  often 
is  to  the  disciple  of  Christ!  How  the  moral 
radiance  of  His  glorified  Redeemer  there  shines 
out  upon  him,  and  fills  and  thrills  his  soul  with 
the  very  ecstacy  of  heaven,  and,  in  the  fulness 
of  his  joy,  he  cries  out :  "Lord,  it  is  good  to 
be  here."  And  so,  also,  at  times,  in  our  closets 
of  prayer !  How  full  the  cup  of  joy  which  is 
there  sometimes  poured  out  by  the  Transfig- 
ured Saviour's  hand,  into  our  souls !  How 
"good"  to  be  there ! 

The  world  thinks  a  religious  life  a  gloomy 

and  a  joyless  life.     They  think  we  Christians 

have  no  happiness.    Poor  souls !    It  is  Religion 

alone  that  gives  real  joy.     It  is  we  Christians 

135 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

alone  who  are  really  happy.  We  are  not  al- 
ways, of  course,  on  the  Mount.  It  would  not 
be  well  for  us  if  we  always  were.  But  still, 
we  sometimes  are,  and  some  of  us  often  are. 
We  have,  at  times,  as  Christians,  special  ex- 
periences of  our  Saviour's  nearness  and  com- 
fort and  of  our  rich  blessedness  and  heirship 
in  Him ;  and  we  have  always  peace  of  soul  and 
quietness  of  conscience,  and  hope  of  eternal 
life  through  Him.  All  this  the  world  does  not 
have,  and  without  Christ,  cannot  have.  Hence 
it  is  ever  restless  and  unsatisfied,  and  is  ever 
asking :  "Who  will  show  us  any  good  ?"  With- 
out Christ,  and  reconciliation  to  God,  and  qui- 
etness of  Conscience,  it  can  never,  with  Peter, 
say:  "Lord,  it  is  good  to  be  here;  here  we 
have  all  we  want ;  here  let  us  build  taberna- 
cles." That  satisfaction  and  peace  and  rest, 
the  soul  alone  possesses  that  seeks  and  finds 
its  happiness  in  Christ. 

But,  while  it  was  thus  "good"  for  Peter  to 
be  in  the  Mount  awhile  with  Christ,  I  now  re- 
mark: 


136 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 
II.    That  it  would  not  have  been  good 

FOR    HIM,    AS    HE   DESIRED,    TO    HAVE    BEEN    AL- 
LOWED TO  REMAIN  THERE. 

The  proposal  to  build  three  tabernacles 
there,  and  then  stay  there,  and  give  themselves 
np  to  the  mere  soft  luxury  of  enjoyment— 
that  proposal  was,  in  every  way,  a  very  short- 
sighted and  ignorant  and  selfish  proposal.  It 
was  born,  indeed,  of  pure  selfishness.  All  who 
were  there  upon  the  Mount,  Peter  himself  in- 
cluded, the  world  down  below  the  Mount,  we, 
all  men,  would  all  have  been  losers  had  his 
proposal  been  granted.  Think  for  a  moment 
how  much  would  have  been  lost.  Moses  and 
Elijah  would  have  been  kept  away  from 
heaven.  Jesus  would  have  been  detained  from 
His  great  life  work  of  human  redemption.  The 
world  would  have  been  deprived  of  an  atone- 
ment for  its  sins.  Peter  would  have  lost  all 
the  grand  career  of  usefulness  which  he  after- 
ward wrought,  and  would  thus  have  missed 
the  bright  crown  of  Eternal  Salvation  which 
he  now  wears  as  the  reward  of  all  his  labors 
and  sufferings  for  Christ.  The  truth  is,  Peter, 
137 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

in  thus  desiring  to  stay  there  upon  the  Mount, 
made  several  very  great  mistakes ;  mistakes, 
alas !  which  we,  too,  are  constantly  prone  to 
make. 

His  first  mistake  was  in  making  Religion 
consist  so  much  in  mere  religious  enjoyment. 

To  be  there  in  the  Mount ;  to  behold  the  glory 
of  Jesus;  to  be  feeling  "good;"  to  be  listening 
to  the  conversation  of  Moses  and  Elijah ;  to 
be  having,  in  a  word,  "a  happy  time  of  it" ; 
that  seemed  to  Peter  to  be  the  perfection  of 
piety,  the  highest  and  most  desirable  attain- 
ment possible  in  Christian  life. 

There  are  many  such  Christians  now.  They 
estimate  the  measure  of  their  piety  altogether 
by  the  tone  and  character  of  their  feelings. 
They  value  a  religious  service  by  the  amount 
of  good  feeling  that  it  creates.  "Feeling," 
"enjoyment,"  is  with  them  everything. 

But  this  is  surely  a  great  mistake.  Piety 
does  not  consist  in  mere  experiences  occasion- 
ally of  religious  ecstacies.  It  consists  in  relig- 
ious knowledge,  in  Christian  fidelity,  in  the 
culture  of  a  Christian  conscience,  in  unselfish 
Christian  activity,  in  holiness,  in  consistency 
138 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

of  daily  life,  in  increasing  likeness  to  Christ, 
in  solid  Christian  character.  This  is  genuine 
Christian  piety.  And  happiness  is  only  an  in- 
cidental fruit  of  all  this  Christian  living  and 
character.  Only  because  Peter  was  a  real  and 
true  and  advanced  disciple  of  Christ,  did  Christ 
take  him  up  into  the  Mount  at  all,  and  his 
happiness  there  was  granted  him  only  as  an 
encouragement  to  him  in  his  subsequent  Chris- 
tian service  and  suffering  when  he  should 
again  go  down  from  the  Mount. 

Beware,  Christian  friends,  of  substituting 
good  feeling  for  goodness,  or  mere  occasional 
pious  emotions  for  piety,  or  mere  excited  and 
aroused  religious  sensibilities  for  religion.  You 
are  a  "Christian,"  not  in  proportion  to  how 
"happy"  you  may  occasionally  get  in  a  relig- 
ious meeting,  but  in  proportion  to  your  like- 
ness in  spirit  and  life  to  Christ,  and  in  propor- 
tion to  how  squarely  and  fairly  you  act  and 
speak  and  live  when  you  are  not  in  a  religious 
meeting,  and  when  you  are  not  especially 
happy,  and  when  you  are  down  again  from 
the  Mount,  and  out  amid  the  dust  and  tussle 
and  struggle  of  every  day  life.  Then  is  the 
139 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

time  to  measure  our  piety,  and  know  about 
how  much  real  "grace"  we  have ;  or  rather, 
how  httle  we  have,  even  the  best  of  us. 

But  a  second  mistake  which  Peter  made  was 
m  entirely  forgetting  and  ignoring  the  claims 
upon  him,  as  a  disciple  of  Christ,  of  the 
wretched  and  perishing  World,  down  at  the 
foot  of  that  Mount  of  Transfiguration. 

He,  Peter,  was  all  right ;  he  was  near  Christ 
up  m  the  Mount,  happy,  seeing  and  liearing 
blessed  things,  enjoying  the  company  of  visit- 
ors from  heaven,  and  himself  on  the  way  to 
heaven,  and  little  now  did  he  think  or  care  for 
all  the  vast  multitudes  of  sick  and  sorrowing 
and  suffering  and  sinful  and  perishing,  that 
were  not  up  there  where  he  was.  Little  did 
he  think  of  going  down  and  carrying  to  them 
the  blessed  message  of  all  that  he  had  there 
seen  and  heard  and  felt  of  Christ,  and  try  to 
bring  them,  also,  to  Him.  No !  He  thought 
in  that  glad  hour  only  of  himself.  He  wanted 
to  stay  there.  And  Jesus  had  first,  as  it  were, 
to  put  out  the  Light  and  Glory  of  that  Trans- 
figuration Scene,  and,  as  it  were,  push  him 
down  from  the  Holy  Mount  before  he  was  will- 
140 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ing  to  relinquish  his  enjoyment,  and  leave  the 
bliss  that  he  was  there  selfishly  drinking  in, 
and  come  down  again  to  live  and  labor  and 
even  die  to  lead  others  to  Christ. 

And  that,  also,  is  the  very  mistake  which 
from  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  Christian 
men  and  women,  for  the  sake  of  holy  devo- 
tion and  enjoyment,  have  made,  who  as  an- 
chorites, and  hermits,  and  monks,  and  nuns, 
have  shut  themselves  up  in  caves  and  cells  and 
monasteries,  to  be  there  alone  with  God.  Some 
of  the  saintliest  of  Christ's  disciples,  sick  of 
sin,  and  longing  for  closer  communion  with 
God,  have  done  so.  But  it  was  a  mistake. 
The  world  needed  them,  and  was  left  worse 
and  morally  more  helpless  without  them,  and 
their  duty  was  to  have  remained,  as  moral 
lights  and  teachers  and  workers  for  Christ  in 
it.  And  they  also  needed  the  discipline  which 
contact  thus  with  the  wicked  world  would 
have  given  them.  Their  piety  would  have 
grown  infinitely  more  robust  and  healthful  and 
vigorous  by  remaining  in  the  world,  and  bat- 
tling against  sin,  and  relieving  sorrow  and 
141 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

seeking  to  save  the  world,  than  selfishly  fleeing- 
from  it  all.     It  was  a  mistake. 

But  that  is  a  mistake  which  we  all,  as  Chris- 
tians, are  apt  to  make.  We  are  prone  to  make 
our  religion  terminate  too  much  with  ourselves. 
If  only  we  ourselves  are  Christians,  if  we 
think  it  is  all  right  with  our  own  dear  selves ; 
if  only  we  are  on  the  Mount  with  Christ,  and 
on  the  way  to  heaven,  then  we  rest  there,  and 
we  concern  ourselves,  alas !  but  little  about  the 
suffering  and  perishing  world  around  us. 

All  this,  however,  is  certainly  wrong.  It  is 
intensely  selfish.  Our  duty  is  to  seek  to  save 
others  as  well  as  ourselves.  Our  duty  is  not 
selfish  enjoyment,  but  unselfish,  earnest  Chris- 
tian activity.  As  long  as  the  world  is  so  full 
of  sin  and  of  sorrow  and  of  suffering,  and 
has  such  need  of  Christ  and  of  salvation,  our 
place  is  not  on  the  Mount  of  Ease  or  Enjoy- 
ment, but  it  is  down  and  out  in  this  lost  world, 
seeking  by  every  means  in  our  power  to  bring 
it  also  to  the  Christ  Whom  we  have  found  and 
in  Whoni  we  rejoice. 

A  third  mistake  which  Peter,  in  desiring  to 
remain  upon  the  Mount,  made,  was :  In  sup- 
142 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

posing  that  enjoyment,  or  exemption  from  suf- 
fering, was  better  than  suffering. 

Jesus  had  foretold  the  sufferings  which  He, 
as  Redeemer,  was  soon  about  to  endure.  And 
He  had,  also,  foretold  to  Peter  the  sufferings 
which  he,  as  His  disciple,  would  endure.  But 
if  he  thought  at  all,  Peter  thought  that  to  stay 
there  on  the  Mount,  and  escape  all  these  pre- 
dicted sufferings,  would  be  much  better  than 
to  go  down  from  it  and  meet  and  endure  them 
all.  Better  for  Christ,  he  perhaps  thought,  to 
stay  here  than  to  go  down,  and  be  "rejected 
of  the  Jews,  and  suffer  many  things  of  the 
elders  and  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  be 
killed."  And  better,  also,  for  myself,  he  per- 
haps thought,  to  stay  here  than  to  go  through 
all  that  is  before  me  as  an  apostle  of  Christ. 
But  would  it  have  been  better  ?  No  !  It  would 
not  have  been  better.  It  was  better  for  Christ 
Himself,  better  also  for  Peter,  and  infinitely 
better,  surely,  for  us  and  for  the  world,  that 
that  Transfiguration  Scene  did  not  continue ; 
that  Christ  and  His  chosen  three  did  not  stay 
there  upon  the  Mount.  That  enjoyment  of  the 
Mount,  and  that  exemption  from  suffering 
143 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

which  would  then  have  been  escaped  would, 
no  doubt,  have  been  vastly  pleasanter,  but  it 
would  certainly  not  have  been  better.  Better 
in  the  end  for  them  all  possible  suffering  than 
even  an  endless  enjoyment  such  as  they  were 
then  possessing-. 

And  so  with  us.  We  shrink,  I  know,  from 
trials  and  from  sorrows  and  from  sufferings. 
We  deem  them  often  only  an  evil.  We  prefer 
present  and  constant  enjoyment.  We  would, 
if  we  could,  like  Peter,  always  stay  upon  the 
Mount.  But,  even  for  ourselves,  this  would 
not  be  "good."  Enjoyment  is  not  the  highest 
good.  Moral  discipline  is  our  highest  good. 
Culture  of  character,  holiness,  likeness  to 
Christ,  spiritual  readiness  for  heaven ;  these 
are  the  best  attainments.  And  yet  all  these 
come  to  us,  not  in  the  sunny  Vale  of  Prosperity, 
not  in  the  Mount  of  Enjoyment,  but  down  in 
the  valley  of  sorrow,  by  the  experience  of  af- 
fliction, and  of  heartache,  and  of  tears,  and  of 
suffering.  "No  Cross,  no  Crown."  No  fur- 
nace of  fire,  no  purifying  of  the  gold !  No 
suffering,  then  also  no  sanctification !  No  ho- 
liness, no  heaven ! 

144 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

"The  path  of  Sorrow,  and  that  path  alone, 
Leads  to  the  land  where  Sorrow  is  unknown." 

One  other  mistake  which  Peter,  in  this  wish 
of  his  to  remain  there  upon  the  Mount,  made, 
was :  In  supposing  that  anywhere  upon  this 
earth  of  ours,  even  upon  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration, it  would  be  safe  or  good  to  build 
tabernacles  and  hope  for  full  and  permanent 
enjoyment  in  them, 

Peter  said:  "Lord,  it  is  good  to  be  here; 
here  let  us  build  tabernacles."  But  Jesus  said  : 
"No!  Neither  here,  nor  anywhere  else  on 
earth  do  I  wish  you  to  build  for  yourself  a 
home,  and  hope  to  abide  in  it." 

And  He  says  the  same  to  us.  How  often 
we  feel  that  it  is  good  to  be  here,  in  this  place 
or  that,  here  on  earth.  How  disposed  we  all 
are  to  build  tabernacles  for  ourselves  and  rest 
in  them,  and  say :  "In  these,  now,  will  be  our 
stay."  What  a  beautiful  tabernacle,  for  ex- 
ample, we  sometimes  build  for  ourselves  of 
wealth,  or  of  health,  or  of  worldly  honor,  or 
of  our  children  and  households,  and  we  say  to 
ourselves :  "It  is  good  to  be  here."  But  ad- 
versity comes,  and  sickness  comes,  and  disap- 
145 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

pointment  comes,  and  death  comes,  and  our 
tabernacles  fah.  And  we  bow  weeping  over 
their  ruin.  And  then,  standing  by  our  side, 
as  we  gaze  thus  tearfully  upon  their  wreck, 
Jesus  says  to  us :  "O,  disciple  of  mine,  I  told 
you  not  to  build  tabernacles  for  yourself  upon 
earth.  It  is  not  good  to  build  tabernacles  for 
thyself  anywhere  here  below,  or  of  any  ma- 
terial which  this  world  affords  thee.  He  builds 
too  low  who  builds  below  the  sky.  Build  for 
thyself,  by  faith,  love  and  hope  and  holiness, 
a  tabernacle  in  the  world  to  come,  in  heaven, 
the  bright  and  beautiful  home  of  God.  There 
build,  for  there  only  canst  thou  build  .safely. 
Tabernacles  reared  there  never  fall.  There 
only  is  the  true  and  abiding  "Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration" ;  there  where  the  radiant  glory  of 
Christ  shall  forever  shine  forth ;  there  where 
Moses  and  Elias  and  the  Apostles  and  the 
Saints  of  all  ages  shall  hold  eternal  companion- 
ship with  thee ;  there  where  the  bliss  of  the  re- 
deemed shall  never  end.  There  thou  canst, 
at  last,  rightly  and  safely  say :  "Lord,  here  it 
is  good  to  be ;  here  with  Thee ;  here  without 
sin  or  sorrow ;  here  where  change  and  disap- 
146 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

pointment  and  loss  and  death  never  can  come ; 
here  in  this  divine  abode,  bhssful,  permanent, 
unfluctnating,  everlasting.  Lord,  here  it  is 
good  to  be ;  here  let  us  now  build  tabernacles ; 
here,  with  Thee  and  with  all  Thy  saints,  in 
light  and  glory  inefifable  and  enduring,  let  us 
stay  forever." 


U7 


CONCERNING  PAUL'S 
THORN. 

TEXT. 

"And  lest  I  should  be  exalted  above  measure 
through  the  abundance  of  the  revelations,  there  was 
given  to  me  a  thorn  in  the  Aesli,  the  messenger  of 
Satan,  to  buffet  me,  lest  I  should  be  exalted  above 
measiirc.  For  this  thing  I  besought  the  Lord  thrice, 
that  it  might  depart  from  vie,  and  he  said  unto  vie. 
My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee:  for  my  strength  is 
made  perfect  in  xveakness.  Most  gladly  tlierefore 
will  I  rather  glory  in  my  infirmities,  that  the  pozver 
of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me." — 2  Corinthians  xii.  7-9. 

The  Apostle  Paul  here  gives  us  a  page  from 
his  inner  or  private  Christian  experience.  He 
takes  us,  as  it  were,  into  his  especial  confidence, 
and  tells  us  of  something  which  had  befallen 
him  which,  for  a  while  at  least,  was  a  great  sor- 
row or  trouble  to  him,  but  which  he  carried  to 
God  in  prayer,  and  which,  by  His  grace,  was 
made  the  occasion  and  means  of  great  spirit- 
ual blessing  to  him.  He  calls  it,  whatever  it 
was,  his  "thorn  in  the  flesh" :  that  is,  it  was 
148 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

some  affliction,  or  trial  of  some  kind,  which 
was  to  him  annoying  and  irritating,  just  as  a 
thorn  would  have  been  which  had  accidentally 
been  run  into  some  sensitive  part  of  his  body, 
and  was  now  lodged  and  festering  there. 

Let  us  study  concerning  Paul's  Thorn  in 
the  flesh ! 

I.     What  was  it  ? 
II.     Why  was  it  given  him? 
III.     What  did  he  do  with  it? 

Let  us  ask  and  answer  these  three  ques- 
tions, in  the  order  stated,  and  thus  seek  to  un- 
derstand a  most  interesting  experience  in  the 
life  of  the  great  Apostle;  and  an  experience, 
also,  whose  lessons  may  be  most  helpful  to  us 
in  connection  with  our  "thorns  in  the  flesh." 

I.  What  was  this  thorn  in  the  Flesh, 
which  was  thus  given  to  the  Apostle,  and  of 
which  he  here,  in  our  text,  speaks? 

"There  was  given  to  me,"  he  says,  "a 
thorn  in  the  flesh,  the  messenger  of  Satan  to 
buffet  me." 

I  need  hardly  remind  you  of  the  fact  that 
there  has  been  an  almost  countless  number 
of  conjectures  concerning  the  exact  nature 
149 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

or  character  of  this  trial  which  had  befallen 
the  Apostle,  and  which  he  here,  so  express- 
ively and  almost  pathetically  calls  his  "thorn 
in  the  flesh."  No  two  expositors  seem  fnlly 
to  agree  in  their  judgment  of  wiiat  it  was. 
Some  suggest  that  it  was  a  stuttering  or 
stammering  in  his  speech.  Others,  that  it  was 
a  ridiculous  or  mirth-provoking  distortion  of 
his  countenance  or  muscles  of  his  face. 
Others,  that  it  was  a  paralytic  disorder. 
Others,  that  it  was  an  epileptic  affection. 
Others,  that  it  was  a  weakness  or  disease  of 
his  eyes,  an  impairment  of  his  sight,  the  re- 
sult of  the  glorious  vision  of  Christ  and  of 
Heaven  which  he  beheld  at  the  time  of  his 
conversion,  on  the  way  to  Damascus  ;  St.  Chry- 
sostom  tells  us  that  it  was  probably  headache ; 
Tertullian,  that  it  was  earache ;  and  Rosenmil- 
ler,  the  German  critic,  desides  that  it  was  what 
he  calls  "Gout  in  the  head,"  a  periodical  dis- 
order which  affected  his  brain.  Many  of  the 
old  Latin  fathers,  on  the  other  hand,  held  that 
it  was  no  physical  or  bodily  disorder  at  all; 
that  the  words,  "thorn  in  the  flesh,"  are  used 
by  him  entirely  in  a  figurative  sense ;  and  that 
150 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

he  meant  by  them  some  ungovernable  lust, 
some  passion,  some  temper,  some  sore  spirit- 
ual trial  or  temptation,  wrought  in  him  by  the 
agency  of  the  devil;  and  that  he,  therefore, 
very  properly  speaks  of  it  as  "the  messenger 
of  Satan  to  buffet  me." 

Thus  there  have  been  all  kinds  of  opinions, 
wise  and  otherwise,  in  answer  to  the  question : 
"What  was  Paul's  Thorn  in  the  Flesh?"  The 
simple  truth  is :  we  do  not  know  certainly 
what  it  was.  All  that  we  can,  with  any  as- 
surance, say  concerning  it  is :  that  it  was  some 
kind  of  humiliating,  annoying  or  painful  afflic- 
tion. Most  probably  it  was  some  bodily  de- 
formity or  infirmity.  Possibly  there  was  such 
an  impression  or  effect  produced  upon  him  at 
his  conversion,  or  later,  when  he  was,  as  he 
tells  us  here  in  the  context,  once  caught  up 
into  Paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable  words 
which  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  utter,  as 
to  leave  some  permanent  physical  infirmity ; 
affecting-,  as  we  may  gather,  here  and  there 
from  his  epistles,  his  appearance,  his  sight,  his 
speech,  his  hands.  For  you  remember  that  he 
generally  wrote  his  epistles,  save  a  few  trem- 
151 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ulcus  lines  at  their  close,  by  the  hand  of  an 
amanuensis.  You  remember,  also,  how  he 
speaks,  in  one  place  of  his  "temptation  or  trial 
which  was  in  his  flesh" ;  how  he  tells  us  that 
his  bodily  presence  was  weak,  and  his  speech 
contemptible" ;  how  he  speaks  of  himself  as 
"always  bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying 
of  the  Lord  Jesus" ;  and  how,  here  in  our  text, 
in  speaking  of  this  thorn,  he  speaks  of  it  spe- 
cifically as  "a  thorn  in  the  flesh".  And,  besides, 
he  here  adds,  that,  since  divine  strength  was 
made  manifest  to  him  in  connection  with  this 
weakness,  or  trial,  he  "glories  in  his  weakness 
or  infirmity" :  something  which  he  surely 
would  and  could  not  have  done  had  this 
"thorn  in  the  flesh"  been,  as  some  have  sug- 
gested, some  moral  trial,  some  spiritual  tempta- 
tion, some  weakness  in  his  Christian  char- 
acter or  life. 

Summing  up,  then,  all  the  probabilities  in 
the  case,  we  conclude  that  Paul's  "thorn  in 
the  flesh"  was  a  bodily  disorder  of  some  kind ; 
some  physical  defect;  or  painful  or  humiliat- 
ing distortion  of  his  face,  perhaps;  or  some 
weakness,  perhaps,  in  his  vision  or  eye-sight; 
152 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

or  some  defect,  perhaps,  in  his  speech ;  or 
some  nervous  or  epileptic  or  paralytic  infirm- 
ity;  something,  whatever  it  was,  that  could 
manifestly  be  seen  by  others  and  that  rendered 
him,  as  he  thought,  weak  in  his  influence  and 
power  over  others,  that  made  him  to  some  an 
object  of  remark  and  ridicule,  and  even  of  con- 
tempt, and  that,  therefore,  at  times,  greatly 
mortified  and  humbled  him. 

And,  besides,  he  also  felt  that  Satan,  in 
some  way  was  the  author  of  it :  that,  while  God 
allowed  the  thorn,  it  was  yet  a  thorn  of  the 
devil's  planting,  and  was  designed  by  the 
Evil  One,  not  only  for  his  annoyance  and  dis- 
tress personally,  but  was  especially  designed  to 
weaken  his  Christian  influence,  and  to  dimin- 
ish his  power,  as  an  Apostle  of  Christ  and 
as  a  Preacher  of  the  Gospel.  It  was,  he  felt, 
"the  messenger  of  Satan  to  buflfet  him." 

And  this  feature  of  it  was  to  him  an  es- 
pecial element  of  humiliation  and  distress :  the 
sharpest  point  of  the  thorn,  the  point  that  en- 
tered deepest  into  his  soul,  and  that  hurt  him 
most.  He  chafed  and  fretted  under  the  sense 
that  he  in  any  way,  should  be  under  Satan's 
IS3 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

power,  and  that  the  devil  should  in  any  way  in- 
terfere with  his  work  for  Christ. 

But,  has  Satan  power  over  human  bodies? 
Has  he  power  to  inflict  disease?  With  divine 
permission,  he  certainly  has.  He  clearly  did 
so  in  the  case  of  Job.  He  did  so  in  the  case  of 
the  poor  woman  whom  Jesus  healed  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  and  whom  He  declared  "Satan 
hath  bound,  lo,  these  eighteen  years."  He 
also  clearly  had  this  power  and  sadly  exercised 
it,  too,  in  all  the  many  instances  of  "Demoni- 
acal Possession"  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. And  so  here,  in  this  case  of  Paul's 
Thorn  in  the  Flesh,  he  expressly  assigns  it  to 
Satan's  agency.  God,  of  course,  permitted 
it ;  but  Satan  inflicted  it.  Satan  gave  it  to  him 
in  malice,  and  God  allowed  him  to  do  so,  and 
then  over-ruled  it  for  good.  In  the  end,  as  is 
always  the  case  in  "thorns''  of  the  devil's 
planting,  it  became  much  more  of  a  "thorn  in 
the  flesh"  to  the  devil  himself  than  it  ever 
was  to  the  Apostle. 

And  now,  whilst  having  said  so  much  about 
Paul's  "thorn  in  the  flesh,"  let  me  add  that 
Paul  is  not  the    only    Christian    who    went 
154 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

through  hfe  with  a  "thorn  in  the  flesh."  He 
is,  indeed,  in  this  respect,  only  a  representative 
of  the  condition  of  all  Christians.  His  expe- 
rience, in  this  respect,  is  the  ideal  of  all  gen-, 
nine  Christian  experience.  You  and  I,  as 
Christians,  also,  either  literally  or  figuratively 
speaking,  either  physically  or  spiritually,  have 
our  "thorns  in  the  flesh :"  not  Paul's  thorn 
perhaps,  not  any  one's  else  thorn  exactly ;  but 
still  a  "thorn,"  a  real  thorn,  our  own  personal 
or  individual  thorn. 

Any  great  trial  that  has  come  upon  us : 
bodily  pain  of  some  kind,  continued  ill  health, 
disappointed  hopes,  frustrated  plans  in  life, 
loss  of  wealth,  some  buried  sorrow  in  our  do- 
mestic life,  the  slander  of  some  enemy,  the  be- 
trayal of  our  confidence  by  some  once  trusted 
friend,  the  continued  impenitence  and  wicked- 
ness of  some  precious  acquaintance  or  relative, 
the  death  of  loved  ones  dear  to  us  as  life  itself, 
struggles  with  poverty  and  anxiety  for  our 
future  wants,  sorrow  over  the  low  condition 
of  the  Church,  grief  because  of  the  Christian 
inconsistencies  of  others,  and  lamentation  es- 
pecially over  some  humiliating  spiritual  weak- 
155 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ness  or  "besetting  sin"  of  our  own ;  all  these 
are  now  "thorns  in  the  flesh"  in  Christian  ex- 
perience. One  or  the  other  of  these,  or  of 
some  yet  other  similar  experience,  is  the  "thorn 
in  the  flesh"  now  of  every  true  child  of  God. 
We  all,  as  we  walk  heavenward,  carry  buried 
somewhere  in  our  being,  a  weakness,  an  in- 
firmity, a  special  temptation,  ^  great  hidden 
sorrow,  of  some  kind,  known,  perhaps,  only 
to  God  and  to  ourselves,  which  is  our  "thorn 
in  the  flesh." 

11.  But  let  us  now  inquire,  as  our  second 
question :  Why  was  this  "thorn  in  the  flesh" 
thus  given  to  the  Apostle? 

The  divine  purpose  in  it,  Paul  himself  here 
plainly  declares.  It  was  given  him,  that  is. 
God  allowed  Satan  to  give  it  to  him,  "lest  he 
should  be  exalted  above  measure  by  the  abund- 
ance of  the  revelations"  with  which  he  had 
been  favored.  By  that  expression  :  "the  abund- 
ance of  the  revelations,"  he  evidently  refers  to 
the  ecstatic  trance,  related  in  the  context,  in 
which,  as  he  tells  us,  he  was  caught  up  into 
Paradise,  and  was  favored  with  such  a  glori- 
ous and  rapturous  vision  of  the  future  life  of 
156 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

God's  people  that  words  utterly  failed  him, 
inspired  as  he  was,  to  describe  it.  His  lan- 
guage is :  ''I  knew  a  man  in  Christ,  about 
fourteen  years  ago,  whether  in  the  body  I 
cannot  tell,  or  whether  out  of  the  body  I  can- 
not tell,  God  knoweth,  such  an  one  caught  up 
to  the  third  heavens ;  and  I  knew  such  a  man, 
whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body,  God 
knoweth,  how  that  he  was  caught  up  into 
Paradise,  and  heard  unspeakable  words,  which 
it  is  not  lawful,  or  possible,  for  a  man  to  utter." 
Who  was  this  man?  Evidently,  as  the  whole 
context  shows,  it  was  Paul  himself.  He  was 
"the  man  in  Christ,"  or  the  Christian  man, 
who  had  been  thus  highly  favored  with  this 
celestial  vision. 

But,  right  in  this  now,  lay,  also,  as  God 
saw,  his  spiritual  danger.  Great  gifts,  and 
even  great  spiritual  graces,  are  always  sources 
of  great  spiritual  peril.  So  here,  in  this  spe- 
cial divine  favor  vouchsafed  the  Apostle,  there 
lurked  a  source  to  him  of  real  spiritual  danger. 
What  was  it  ?  Why,  danger  of  spiritual  pride  ; 
danger  of  self-conceit ;  danger  of  vain  per- 
sonal elation ;  danger  that  he  would  grow 
157 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

proud  of  the  fact  that  God  had  thus  singled 
him  out  and  granted  to  him  what  He  granted 
to  no  others ;  danger  that  he  might  feel :  "I, 
Paul,  am  more  than  an  ordinary  Christian ; 
am  endowed  with  gifts  superior  to  others ; 
am  favored  of  God  above  others."  That,  I 
say,  was  Paul's  especial  spiritual  danger,  at 
that  time,  because  of  the  especial  spiritual  ex- 
altation and  honor  which  had  been  placed  on 
him  in  the  vision  of  celestial  glory  wdiich  he 
had  just  enjoyed. 

And  now,  because  of  this  spiritual  danger 
to  which  he  was  thus  exposed,  in  order  to 
save  him  from  the  spiritual  pride  and  self-con- 
ceit, and  self-sufficiency,  which  would  have 
been  a  great  weakness  in  his  Christian  char- 
acter, and  would  have  robbed  him  of  that 
fine  Christian  power  which  springs  from  hu- 
mility and  lowliness  of  spirit,  there  was  given 
him  this  "thorn  in  the  flesh,"  this  "messenger 
of  Satan  to  buffet  him,"  to  keep  him  humble, 
to  check  his  rising  vanity,  to  take  him  down 
or  keep  him  down  from  any  high  pedestal  of 
self-glorification  to  which  otherwise  he  might 
have  mounted.  As  he  himself  says,  "Lest  T 
158 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

should  be  exalted  above  measure  through  the 
abundance  of  the  revelations,  there  was  given 
to  me  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  the  messenger  of 
Satan  to  buffet  me." 

Thus  to  humble  His  children,  to  save  them 
from  the  spiritual  dangers  to  which,  because 
of  His  very  goodness  to  them,  because  of  the 
superior  gifts  with  which  He  has  endowed 
them,  and  graces  He  has  bestowed  on  them, 
and  positions  to  which  He  has  exalted  them, 
and  honors  and  iniluence  with  which  He  has 
crowned  them.  He  often  finds  it  necessary, 
along  with  His  abundant  revelations  of  His 
goodness  to  them,  also  to  give  them  some  trial, 
some  affliction,  some  sorrow,  some  "thorn  in 
the  flesh"  of  some  kind,  to  humble  them,  to 
take  them  out  of  all  conceit  of  themselves, 
and  to  keep  them  in  lowly  and  humble  depend- 
ence upon  Him. 

It  is  with  this  divine  purpose  of  love ;  with 
this  intent,  on  God's  part,  to  impart  to  us 
thorns  to  buffet  us  in  life's  experience :  thorns 
not  only  in  our  flesh,  but  often  also  in  the 
very  marrow  and  quick  of  our  souls.  It  is 
all  done  for  our  good.  God's  thorns  hurt ; 
159 


Jo}'  in  the  Divine  Government. 

but  still  they  all  have  a  blessing  in  them.  And 
God  plants  them  in  our  being,  and  allows 
others  to  plant  them  there,  not  because  He 
delights  in  our  quivering  suffering  as  they 
pierce  and  force  their  way  into  us,  and  then 
often  remain  lodged  in  us,  as  sources  of  con- 
scious weakness  and  self-humiliation  to  us, 
down  to  the  very  close  of  our  earthly  exist- 
ence, but  only  because,  as  in  Paul's  case,  He 
means  to  give  to  us  some  richer  and  higher 
spiritual  experience  and  greater  spiritual  pow- 
er than  we,  without  them,  could  possibly  at- 
tain. 

And  what  effective  cures  for  our  vanity, 
and  self-righteousness,  and  spiritual  pride, 
these  "thorns  in  the  flesh"  are!  Has  God 
given  you  some  specially  fine  endowment ; 
som.e  "talent"  or  "gift"  which  lifts  you  above 
most  of  your  fellow  men?  ,Has  He  granted 
you  some  special  spiritual  favor:  some  unus- 
ual religious  experience,  some  clearness  of  spir- 
itual vision,  some  specially  joyous  communion 
with  God?  And  now,  you,  perhaps,  are  spir- 
itually proud  of  this  divine  exaltation;  or,  if 
not,  there  is,  at  least,  danger  than  you  will 
i6o 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

be.  And  so  God  gives  you  a  "thorn,"  some 
trial,  or  sorrow,  to  keep  you  humble  and  de- 
pendent on  Him.  Or  the  "thorn,"  perhaps,  is 
some  great  conscious  defect  in  your  Christian 
character :  your  ungovernable  temper,  your 
hasty  speech,  your  uncharitable  spirit,  your  in- 
consistent life,  your  selfishness  showing  itself 
in  a  hundred  ways :  weakness  in  yourself  of 
which  you  are  heartily  ashamed,  thorns  which 
sling  you  into  moral  self-loathing,  so  that,  in- 
stead of  being  proud  or  vain  of  your  spiritual 
strength  or  of  your  superior  piety  and  good- 
ness, you  lie  humbled  in  the  dust  under  an 
abasing  sense  of  your  spiritual  weakness  and 
sinfulness  and  you  despise  yourself.  And 
hence,  paradoxical  as  it  may  appear,  the  holier 
you  grow,  the  greater  also  under  this  disci- 
pline of  God  will  become  your  sense  of  your 
unholiness;  so  that,  at  last,  like  Paul  himself, 
in  the  last  epistle  which  he  wrote,  you  will 
cast  away  from  you  every  vestige  of  self- 
righteousness,  and  will  rely  only  on  the  mer- 
its of  Christ  for  salvation,  saying:  "It  is  a 
faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation, 
i6i 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save 
sinners,  of  whom  I  am  the  chief." 

Blessed  be  God,  then,  for  these  "thorns  in 
the  flesh,"  these  experiences  of  our  Christian 
life  which  make  us  conscious  of  our  spiritual 
weakness,  which  humble  us,  which  drive  and 
hold  us  to  God,  which  cause  us  to  cling  always 
and  only,  for  pardon,  and  strength,  and  sal- 
vation, to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ! 

Ill,  But  we  must  now  yet  consider :  What 
Paul  did  with  his  thorn. 

Jle  did  with  it  simply  what  was  the  wisest 
and  most  Christian  thing  that  he  could  have 
done,  namely :  he  carried  it  to  Christ  in  prayer. 

It  was  a  great  annoyance  and  humiliation 
and  real  grief  to  him;  and  hence  he  wanted 
very  much  to  get  rid  of  it  and  to  go  on  through 
life  without  it.  And  so  he  prayed  earnestly 
and  repeatedly  for  its  removal.  "For  this 
thing,"  he  says,  "I  besought  the  Lord  thrice 
that  it  might  depart  from  me." 

In  all  this  he  did  entirely  right.     A  "thorn 

in  the  flesh"  of  no  kind  is  pleasant;  neither 

are  thorns  of  any  kind,  in  themselves,  apart 

from  God's  grace,  a  blessing.     By  God's  grace, 

162 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

sanctifying  us  under  them  and  through  them, 
they  can  be  made  to  us  very  great  blessings, 
but  in  themselves,  I  repeat,  they  are  no  bless- 
ings. And  hence  Paul  very  properly  submit- 
ted his  thorn  in  prayer  to  the  Lord,  and  asked 
Him,  if  it  was  in  accordance  with  His  will, 
to  take  it  out,  to  relieve  him  of  it.  Jesus 
did  the  same  with  His  great  trial  or  sorrow 
in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane.  He  also  there 
prayed  three  times  that  the  cup,  "if  possible," 
might  be  removed  from  Him. 

And  this  is  the  privilege  of  each  one  of 
us,  also,  in  all  our  trials  of  life,  of  whatever 
character.  Whatever  may  be  the  "thorn"  that 
pierces  us,  we  are  justifiable  in  asking  God 
to  remove  it  from  us.  ,Some  of  our  thorns 
we  ought,  indeed,  pray  God  very  vigorously 
and  persistently  to  get  out  of  us;  e.  g.,  all 
those  bad  thorns  of  our  remaining  depravity; 
the  thorns  of  sin  and  selfishness  that  are  purely 
of  Satan's  planting,  that  are  always  and  only 
a  m.oral  weakness  in  us  and  an  injury  to  oth- 
ers, and  that  God  wants  to  rid  us  of  as  soon 
as  possible:  for  the  removal  of  all  that  bad 
lot  of  thorns  let  us  daily  pray. 
163 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

But  we  are  justifiable,  also,  in  praying  God, 
if  it  be  His  will,  to  remove  from  us  any  thorn 
that  pierces  us,  that  is,  any  sorrow,  any  trial 
of  life  under  which  we  may  be  suffering. 

But  was  Paul's  thorn  in  answer  to  his  pray- 
er divinely  removed  ?  No.  It  was  not.  God 
saw  best,  both  for  Paul's  own  highest  good, 
and  for  the  greatest  good,  through  Paul,  to 
others,  that  it  should  not  be  taken  away.  That 
thorn  had  a  blessing  in  it,  both  for  Paul  and 
for  many  others.  And  so,  painful  and  humil- 
iating and  trying  to  the  blessed  man  as  it  was, 
God  did  not,  even  in  answer  to  his  earnest 
prayer,  take  it  away.  He  kept  it  there ;  and 
Paul,  I  suppose,  carried  that  "thorn"  of  his 
down  with  him  all  through  life.  God  docs 
not  always  grant  even  to  the  holiest  of  His 
children  what  they  pray  for :  simply  because 
He  knovv^s  better  than  they  do  what  is  best 
for  them. 

Their  prayers,  however,  are  still  not  un- 
answered. God  may  not,  as  here  in  Paul's  case, 
give  them  just  the  very  thing  for  which  they 
pray.  He  will  yet,  however,  always,  in  answer 
to  their  prayers  give  them  something;  and 
164 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

always,  also,  will  He  give  them  something 
much  better  than  they  had  asked  for. 

It  was  so  here  in  Paul's  case.  The  "thorn" 
was  not  removed  as  he  had  prayed  that  it 
might  be ;  but  Paul  received,  in  answer  to  his 
prayer,  such  a  precious  promise  from  God 
that  he  could,  indeed,  well  afiford  to  keep  his 
thorn.  That  promise  was  :  "My  grace  is  suf- 
ficient for  thee,  for  My  strength  is  made  per- 
fect in  weakness."  A  promise  which,  fully 
interpreted,  means,  "Keep  your  thorn,  Paul. 
It  is  painful  to  you,  I  know ;  and,  as  your 
Heavenly  Father,  I  feel  for  you  as  you  suf- 
fer under  it.  It  is  not,  however,  best  to  take 
it  away.  It  is  best  for  you  and  for  others 
that  it  remain.  But  this  I  now  promise  you : 
I  will  give  you  very  especial  grace  to  bear 
it ;  I  will  make  that  thorn  of  yours  a  very 
spring  of  richest  spiritual  blessings  to  you ; 
I  will  so  bless  and  comfort  and  strengthen 
you  under  all  that  you  suffer  from  it,  that, 
instead  of  not  wanting  it,  you  will  come  to 
thank  and  praise  me  for  it."  This  is  what 
God  promised. 

And  all  that  God  thus  promised  to  the 
165 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Apostle,  He,  also,  gloriously  fulfilled.  And 
henee,  fourteen  years  afterward,  when  Paul 
wrote  this  epistle,  he  thanks  God  for  his 
"thorn."  It  had  been  the  occasion  of  great 
spiritual  strength  and  blessing  to  him.  It  had 
secured  for  him  wonderful  experiences  of 
God's  grace.  It  had  been  a  means  to  his  sanc- 
tification.  It  had  brought  him  steadily  nearer 
to  God.  It  had  increased  his  spiritual  power 
in  the  ministry.  It  had  ripened  him  for 
Heaven.  And  so  he  blessed  God  for  his 
"thorn."  "Most  gladly,  therefore,"  he  ex- 
claims, "will  I  rather  glory  in  mine  infirmities 
that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me." 

But  this  Promise,  Christian  Friends,  is  ours 
as  well  as  Paul's.  To  us,  as  well  as  to  him, 
God  says :  "My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee." 
To  us^  too,  He  says :  "The  pain  and  burden 
of  your  thorn  I  will  help  you  to  bear,  and  I 
will  make  it  a  blessing  to  you,  and  you  will 
come  eventually  to  praise  me  for  it." 

And  so  He  will.  For  every  sorrow  of  life 
His  grace  will  be  sufficient  for  us.  Every 
trial  has  a  blessing  in  it  for  us.  For  every 
i66 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

thorn  that  now  pierces  us  we  shall  praise  and 
bless  God  eternally. 

Have  you,  then,  Christian  Friends,  any  spe- 
cial sorrow,  or  weakness,  or  sin:  any  "thorn" 
that  has  entered  your  soul  and  is  distress- 
ing you  ?  Do  with  it  as  Paul  did  with  his : 
carry  it  to  God  in  prayer!  If,  by  His  grace, 
He  docs  not  remove  it  from  you.  He  will  do 
for  you  something  infinitely  better :  He  will 
give  you  grace  to  bear  it  and  grace  to  sanctify 
it  to  you,  and  grace  to  comfort  you  under  it, 
and  grace  to  strengthen  you  spiritually  through 
it,  and  grace  to  save  you  by  it ;  so  that,  at 
last,  when  you  have  reached  heaven,  you  will 
look  back  over  your  earth-life ;  and  think  of 
your  "thorn"  and  will  say  :  "Blessed  Thorn ! 
How  much  I  owe  to  it!  God,  I  thank  Thee 
for  having  ever  given  me  that  thorn." 


167' 


PAUL'S  UNWAVERING  CON- 
FIDENCE IN  CHRIST. 

TEXT. 

"/  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded 
that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed 
unto  Him  against  that  day." — 2  Timothy  i.  2. 

There  is  nothing  that  gives  us  such  assur- 
ance of  the  reahty  and  blessedness  of  our  holy 
Christian  religion  as  the  testimony  to  its  pre- 
ciousness  by  the  dying.  We  feel  that  a  religion 
that  in  that  hour  sustains  and  comforts  and 
gladdens  the  soul,  possesses  indeed  divine 
power,  and  is  all  that  it  claims,  and  all  that  we 
desire  and  need. 

Such  dying  testimony  in  favor  of  the  sus- 
taining power  and  comfort  of  Christ  and 
Christianity,  St.  Paul  gives  here  in  these  words 
of  our  text.  He  had  often  borne  his  testimony 
to  its  divine  character  in  his  active  lifetime, 
when  in  health  and  strength,  and  when  death 
168 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

was  yet  in  the  distant  future.  But  now,  shut 
up  in  a  Roman  prison,  forsaken  by  friends, 
aged,  expecting  each  moment  to  be  led  out  to 
a  martyr's  cruel  death — how  now?  "More 
precious  now,"  he  answers,  "than  ever.  More 
convinced  of  its  divine  reality  now  than  I  have 
ever  been.  It  is  now  all  that  I  could  possibly 
desire;  Christ  is  to  me  now  an  all-sufficient, 
a  divine  Saviour.  My  faith  in  Him  now  sus- 
tains, cheers,  strengthens  me.  I  know  whom 
I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  He  is 
able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto 
Him  against  that  day." 

Let  us  analyze  this  hopeful  and  confident 
language  of  the  great  apostle,  and  see  how 
much  there  is  in  it  to  stimulate  our  faith  and 
to  brighten  our  hope. 

The  subject  which  it  presents  is: 

"The  Apostle's  Faith  :"  And  concerning 
this  faith  of  his,  he  here  tells  us  three  things, 
namely : 

I.  The  Object  of  His  Faith  :  "Whom  I 
have  believed." 

169 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

II.  The  Nature  of  His  Faith:  "That 
which  I  have  committed  to  Him  against  that 
day."     And  then, 

HI.  The  Certainty  of  His  Faith  :  "I 
know  Whom  I  have  beheved.  I  am  per- 
suaded," that  is,  convinced,  certain,  assured 
beyond  a  doubt. 

Let  us  look  at  these  three  thoughts. 

I.  The  Object  of  His  Trust. 

That  Object  was  not  a  thing,  but  a  Person. 
It  was  a  behef,  not  in  a  "reHgion,"  but  in  a 
Redeemer;  a  faith,  not  in  Christianity,  but  in 
Christ;  a  trust,  not  in  a  plan  of  salvation,  but 
in  a  Saviour ;  not  in  a  creed  only,  but  a  Christ ; 
and  not  a  Christ  only,  but  the  Christ ;  the 
Christ  of  actual  fact,  the  Christ  of  scripture, 
the  "God  Man,"  as  set  forth  in  the  gospel,  in- 
carnate, atoning,  risen,  ascended,  glorified.  It 
was  faith  in  Christ  as  a  person ;  a  trust  of  him- 
self as  a  being  to  Christ  as  a  being,  to  save 
him.  And  hence  he  does  not  here  say,  "!•  know 
what  I  have  believed,"  but  he  says,  "I  know 
Whom  I  have  believed."  And  he  does  not 
170 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

even  say,  as  he  might,  "in  Whom,"  but  directly 
"Whom" ;  as  though  he  would  not  allow  even 
so  small  a  thing  as  that  little  preposition  "in" 
to  come  between  him  and  Christ ;  meaning  thus 
to  teach  us  that  his  faith  rested  directly  and 
solidly,  not  on  something  about  Christ,  or  re- 
lating to  Christ,  but  on  Christ  Himself,  His 
very  person,  as  well  as  His  work. 

And  true,  saving  faith  is  always  thus  faith 
in  Christ  as  a  "person."  "This  is  life  eternal, 
that  they  might  know  Thee,  the  only  true 
God,  and  Jesus  Christ,  Whom  Thou  hast  sent." 
And  again  we  are  repeatedly  told :  "Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  not  simply  on  some- 
thing concerning  Him,  but  on  Him,  on  Him 
directly,  as  a  person,  "and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

And  so  everywhere  in  the  Bible.  Its  one 
command  to  every  inquiring  soul  is :  "Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  divine  human 
person,  the  One  only  all-sufficient  Saviour, 
Son  of  God  and  Son  of  man,  offered  of  God 
as  a  Saviour,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  All 
creeds  and  all  systems  of  theology  and  all  the 
teachings  of  the  church  concerning  Christ,  in 
171 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

so  far  as  they  are  indeed  the  teachings  of  God's 
word  concerning  Christ,  are,  of  course,  divine 
truth  and  must  be  accepted,  and,  because  they 
are  God's  word  concerning  salvation,  there  can 
be  no  saving  faith,  no  salvation,  without  ac- 
cepting them.  But  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
accepting  truth  concerning  Christ  without  sav- 
ingly accepting  Christ.  Hence,  the  sacred 
Scriptures  say :  "Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved." 

Now  right  here  lies  a  source  of  very  great 
spiritual  danger  to  us  all.  We  are  in  danger 
of  believing  something  about  Christ.  That 
"something"  may  be  all  true,  and  just  what  we 
ought  to  believe,  and  must  believe,  in  order 
to  be  saved,  and  yet  not  be  all  that  we  must 
believe,  or  the  vital  thing  that  we  must  believe 
in  order  to  be  saved.  A  Christian  Creed  is  all 
true,  but  it  is  all  only  a  formulated  statement 
of  truth  concerning  Christ.  It  is  not  itself 
Christ,  but  only  something  about  Christ.  And 
hence,  he  whose  object  of  faith  is  his  creed, 
however  thoroughly  Christian  and  orthodox, 
and  who  rests  in  his  acceptance  as  divine  truth 
of  its  articles,  who  goes  in  faith  thus  far  and 
172  j 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

no  farther,  has  not  yet  truly  and  savingly  be- 
Heved.  We  must  not  only  believe  all  that  the 
Scriptures  teach  about  Christ,  but  we  must  also 
believe  Christ ;  not  the  doctrine  only,  but  the 
living-  divine  Saviour-Person. 

The  two  things  surely  are  not  the  same. 
There  is  certainly  a  vital  difference  between 
believing  even  true  things  concerning  Christ, 
and,  in  the  Scriptural  sense  of  saving  faith  or 
trust,  believing  Christ.  In  the  one  case,  we 
give  intellectual  assent  to  the  truth ;  in  the 
other,  we  give  ourselves  in  trust  to  the  Being 
of  whom  the  truth  speaks.  In  the  one,  we  are 
logically  convinced  of  what  we  ought  to  do 
concerning  Christ ;  in  the  other  we  act  upon 
our  convictions,  and  positively  do  what  we 
are  convinced  we  ought  to  do.  In  the  one 
case,  we  intellectually  accept  a  System  of 
Christian  Doctrine;  in  the  other,  we  cast  our- 
selves helplessly  for  Salvation  upon  a  Personal, 
Living,  Divine  Saviour.  In  the  one  case,  in  a 
word,  we  give  the  consent  of  our  judgment, 
the  approval  of  cur  conscience ;  in  the  other, 
we  give  our  supreme  affections,  our  act  of  will, 
our  individual  choice  of  Christ,  our  full  sur- 
173 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

render  of  ourselves  to  Him,  the  confident  re- 
pose of  our  soul  upon  the  heatin.s^  heart  of 
Christ. 

And  this  brings  us  now  to  notice : 

II.     The  nature  of  Paul's  faith. 

As  expressed  here  in  our  text.  To  see  the 
difference  of  which  I  have  spoken  between 
beheving  even  Bible  truth  concerning  Christ 
and  believing  Christ,  notice  carefully  how  Paul 
here  describes  the  exact  character  of  his  faith 
in  Christ.  What  was  the  exact  character  of 
his  faith?  What,  in  its  essential  nature,  was 
his  faith  ?  Study  his  language,  as  he  here  de- 
scribes it.  It  was,  he  tells  us,  you  will  observe, 
an  act.  He  did  something  with  himself  toward 
Christ.  He  represents  himself  as  having  given 
something  to  Christ  to  keep  for  him.  "That 
which  I  have  committed  unto  Him  against  that 
day."  And  what  had  Paul  thus  given  or  com- 
mitted to  Christ  for  safe-keeping?  Himself. 
His  own  soul,  that  soul  which  through  sin  was 
lost,  which  he  himself  could  not  save,  which 
Christ  only  could  save.  That  soul  of  his,  that 
is,  himself,  he  tells  us,  by  an  act  of  his  will,  as 
174 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

an  act  of  trust,  he  had  dehberately  taken  from 
his  own  keeping  and  laid  on  the  Outstretched 
and  Almighty  Arms  of  Christ  to  keep  for  him. 

Paul's  Faith,  therefore,  you  see,  was  more 
than  an  "opinion" :  it  was  an  "act."  It  was 
more  than  believing  something  concerning 
Christ :  it  was  an  actual  giving  something  to 
Christ.  And  that  "something"  was  the  most 
precious  thing  he  had :  his  own  soul,  his  im- 
mortality, his  destiny  for  eternity.  All  that, 
as  if  he  had  reached  into  himself  and  taken 
himself  out  of  himself,  and  then  carried  him- 
self to  Christ,  he  thus  trusted,  for  safe-keeping ; 
to  Christ,  with  fullest  confidence  of  its  perfect 
safety  there.  Just  as  you  might  take  your 
most  precious  jewels,  or  your  most  valuable 
papers,  or  your  most  costly  treasures  of  any 
kind,  and  carry  them  to  a  "Bank  of  Deposit," 
and  say :  "Keep  these  for  me ;  in  my  keeping 
they  are  not  safe ;  in  yours  they  are."  It  was 
a  committing,  a  committing  or  giving  of  him- 
self, for  safe-keeping,  to  Christ. 

And  that,  and  nothing  less  than  that,  is 
just  what  saving  faith  is.  Not  in  the  case  of 
Paul's  salvation  only,  but  in  yours,  and  in 
175 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

mine,  and  in  the  case  of  all  persons:  only  he 
who  thus  believes  on  Christ  is  saved.  Only 
he  that  thus,  as  a  perishing  sinner,  gives  him- 
self to  Christ  as  a  real,  living,  personal,  divine 
Saviour,  is  saved. 

To  illustrate  this  nature  of  faith  as  an  act 
of  the  soul's  full  trust  of  itself  for  salvation 
upon  Christ,  suppose  you  and  I  had  engaged 
passage  for  Liverpool  upon  the  same  ocean 
steamer.  The  vessel  is  ready  to  sail,  and  we 
stand  together  upon  the  wharf  before  her. 
She  is  a  grand  vessel.  As  we  stand  there  and 
look  at  her  I  am  carried  away  with  admiration 
of  her.  I  praise  her  fine  proportions,  her  sym- 
metry, her  magnitude,  her  elegance.  I  tell 
those  around  what  a  magnificent  steamer  she  is. 
I  tell  of  the  many  successful  voyages  she  has 
made.  But  now,  when  the  time  comes  to  go 
on  board  of  her,  to  trust  myself  to  her,  with 
all  my  fine  talking  about  her,  I  am  afraid.  I 
refuse  to  risk  myself  on  her.  I  say:  "She 
may  sink,  and  I  perish ;  I  will  stay  where  I 
am."  Now,  have  I  faith  in  that  vessel?  Yes, 
some  faith,  but  not  a  sufficient  faith ;  not  the 
faith  of  trust,  of  self-committal ;  not  the  faith 
176 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

which  will  move  me  to  put  myself  on  the  ves- 
sel, and  which  I  need  in  order  to  get  myself 
across  the  sea  and  into  the  destined  foreign 
harbor.  You  have  that  needed  confidence  in 
her;  you  put  yourself  trustingly  on  her;  and 
you  are  carried  safely  across.  Your  faith  is 
a  trust ;  it  leads  you  to  act ;  it  moves  you  to 
commit  yourself,  your  very  life,  your  whole 
being  to  that  vessel.  If  she  sinks,  you  sink. 
But  you  have  faith  in  her  to  believe  that  she 
will  not  sink,  and  hence  you  give  yourself  to 
her.  And  that  is  the  nature  of  saving  faith 
in  Christ.  Like  Paul's,  it  is  a  committing  of 
one's  self  to  Christ.  It  is,  by  an  act  of  your 
soul  or  will,  putting  yourself  on  Christ,  just 
as,  by  an  act  of  your  will,  you  put  yourself 
in  trust  on  that  vessel. 

Dr.  Chalmers,  it  is  said,  on  one  occasion, 
went,  as  a  pastor,  to  visit  a  lady  who  was  under 
deep  conviction  of  sin,  but  who  could  not  some- 
how rightly  understand  and  exercise  saving 
faith  in  Christ  as  her  Saviour  from  sin.  In 
front  of  her  home  was  a  small  stream  of 
water,  across  which  was  a  board  or  plank.  As 
the  Doctor  approached  her  home  and  came  to 
177 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

this  plank  he  saw  that  it  was  weak,  and  hes- 
itated for  a  moment  to  trust  himself  on  it. 
The  lady  saw  him  and  called  out  to  him :  "Put 
yourself  boldly  on  it,  Doctor;  it  will  bear 
you."  And  so,  when  he  had  reached  the  home, 
and  was  trying  to  simplify  to  the  woman  the 
nature  of  faith  in  Christy  and  tell  her  what 
believing  in  Christ  was,  he  used  her  own  lan- 
guage to  him :  to  trust  himself  on  the  plank, 
as  an  illustration.  He  told  her  that  thus  just 
as  he,  trusting  her  word,  had  put  himself  on 
that  plank,  so  she,  trusting  God's  Word,  must 
put  herself  on  Christ.  "Is  that  faith?"  she 
asked.  "Is  that  all  that  saving  faith  is?" 
"That,"  he  said,  "is  saving  faith.  That  only 
is.  He  that  thus  believes  on  Christ  is  saved." 
"How  simple,"  she  exclaimed.  "I  see  it  all 
now.  I  do  thus  now  commit  my  soul  for  sal- 
vation to  Him." 

And  that.  Christian  friends,  is  true  saving 
faith :  it  is,  by  the  power  given  us  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  a  putting  of  ourselves  as  sinners 
on  Christ  as  a  Saviour:  a  full  trusting  of 
ourselves  to  Him  for  salvation. 

And  now  notice : 

178 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

III.  The    Strength    or    Assurance    of 
Paul's  Faith. 

Having  thus  committed  his  soul  to  Christ, 
did  he  feel  uncertain  or  doubtful  about  the 
safety  of  his  soul  in  the  keeping  of  Christ? 
Not  in  the  least.  On  the  contrary,  his  faith 
rises  into  highest  assurance.  He  has  given  his 
soul  to  Christ  to  keep  for  him,  to  save,  to 
preserve  for  him.  And  he  knows  that  He  also 
can  and  will  do  it.  He  does  not  only  hope 
that  he  will  be  saved,  or  expect,  or  think,  that 
he  will  be,  but  he  knows  that  he  will  be.  He 
is  sure  that  he  will  be.  His  faith  is  a  cer- 
tainty. "I  know,"  he  exclaims,  "whom  I  have 
believed ;"  no  mere  man,  no  angel,  no  highest 
archangel,  but  one  diviner  and  greater  than 
all — the  God-Man,  the  Almighty  Saviour, 
Christ  Jesus,  "able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost ;" 
and  this  being  the  character  of  Him  to  Whom 
I  have  committed  my  soul,  I  am  sure  that  in 
His  hands  it  is  safe.  He,  I  am  persuaded, 
convinced,  assured  beyond  a  doubt,  is  able  to 
keep  it  against  that  day.  Even  in  the  Great 
Judgment  Day,  when  the  heavens  shall  be 
wrapped  in  flame,  and  the  earth  shall  be  dis- 
179 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

solved,  and  all  nature  shall  tremble  under  the 
footstep  of  the  descending  Judge,  and  men's 
hearts  shall  be  filled  with  fear,  and  even  the 
great  ones  of  earth  shall  call  upon  the  moun- 
tains and  rocks  to  hide  them  from  the  face  of 
Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  even  then  I 
shall  be  secure.  He  will  keep  me.  He  is  able 
to  keep  me.  He  has  promised  to  keep  me. 
Committed  as  I  am  in  His  hands,  I  cannot 
possibly  perish."  Or,  as  elsewhere  he  ex- 
presses it :  "I  am  persuaded  that  neither 
death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities, 
nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the 
love  of  God  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  What 
strong  assurance,  what  certainty  of  faith  such 
language  expresses.  But  such  was  Paul's  faith. 
He  knew  Whom  he  had  believed.  "I  am  per- 
suaded," he  exclaims,  "of  the  full  ability  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  save  me."  Such  was  Paul's 
assurance  of  his  salvation. 

And  you  notice  it  is  an  assurance  that  is  all 
based  on  what  Christ  is,  and  not  in  any  respect 
because  of  anything  that  he  himself  is.     All 
i8o 


'  Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

that  he  has  done  is  just,  as  a  poor  sinner,  una- 
ble'to  save  himself,  to  throw  himself  on  Christ 
to  save  him ;  and  then,  because  of  Christ's 
promise  and  Christ's  ability,  feel  sure  that  he 
will  be  saved.  He  himself  is  weak,  but  Christ 
is  strong ;  unworthy,  but  Christ  is  worthy ;  sin- 
ful, but  Christ  is  holy;  a  perishing  soul,  but 
Christ  is  an  Omnipotent  Saviour.  And  so  Paul, 
as  you  notice,  has  no  doubt  whatever  about  his 
salvation,  simply  because  he  never  forgets  in 
Whose  hands  his  salvation  is ;  how  great  a 
Saviour  his  Saviour  is ;  how  absolutely  impos- 
sible it  is  for  any  soul  that  has  trustingly  laid 
itself  for  salvation  into  Christ's  hands  ever  to 
drop  out  of  them  into  eternal  death.  "My 
salvation,"  he  cries,  ''is  sure,  for  I  know  Whom 
I  have  believed,  and  am  assured  that  He  is 
able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto 
Him  against  that  day.     Not  I,  but  He." 

Christian  Friends,  this  assurance  of  faith 
which  Paul  thus  possessed,  you  and  I,  as 
Christians,  ought  to  possess.  Its  possession  is 
both  our  privilege  and  our  duty.  We  both 
dishonor  our  Saviour  and  we  rob  ourselves 
by  not  having  it.  Why  should  we  not  possess 
i8i 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

it?  If  Christ  is  able  to  save  at  all.  He  is  able 
to  save  fully.  If  His  blood  has  sufficient  aton- 
ing power  in  it  to  blot  out  one  single  sin  it 
has  atoning"  power  enough  in  it  to  blot  out 
the  whole  record.  If  He  is  able  to  bring  us 
part  way  towards  heaven,  He  is  able  to  bring 
us  all  the  way.  He  is  either  no  Saviour  at 
all,  or  else  He  is  a  perfect,  an  all-sufficient, 
an  Almighty  Saviour. 

And  such  absolutely  perfect  Saviour  is  just 
the  kind  of  Saviour  the  Scriptures  everywhere 
exhibit  Him.  "Mighty  to  save" ;  "able  to  save 
unto  the  uttermost  all  that  come  unto  God 
through  Him";  His  blood  "blood  that  cleanses 
from  all  sin";  both  "the  Author  and  Finisher 
of  our  Faith"  ;  both  "the  Alpha  and  the  Omega, 
the  beginning  and  the  ending,  saith  the  Lord, 
which  is,  and  which  was,  and  which  is  to 
come,  the  Almighty."  , 

Thus  great  and  perfect  a  Saviour  is  Christ. 
How  worthy,  then,  of  our  perfect  trust. 
And  hence  how  we  dishonor  Him  by  not  fully 
trusting  ourselves,  as  Paul  did,  to  Him.  Be- 
ing in  Himself  "the  fullness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily,"  an  infinite,  boundless,  inexhaustible 
182 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ocean  of  grace  and  salvation,  how  we  wrong 
Him  by  withholding  from  Him  our  full  faith, 
as  though,  possibly  after  all,  we  could  not 
safely  trust  our  all  to  Him. 

And  yet  many  professing  Christians  do,  just 
in  that  half-measure  way,  believe  on  Christ. 
They  have  never  yet  risen  up  to  the  assurance 
of  faith.  They  have  never  yet  come  to  say : 
'T  know  Whom  I  have  believed,"  "I  am  per- 
suaded, convinced,  assured,  of  the  full  pardon 
of  all  my  sins,  of  my  reconciliation  to  God,  of 
my  adoption  as  His  child  of  the  entire  safety 
of  my  soul  in  the  keeping  of  Christ."  They 
have  never  come,  I  say,  into  the  Pauline  posi- 
tiveness  and  fulness,  and  certainty  of  faith. 
They  walk  only  in  the  dim  twilight  of  Chris- 
tian confidence.  Their  best  Christian  vocabu- 
lary can  say  only,  'T  think,  I  hope."  Their 
piety  can  speak  only  in  the  subjunctive  mood: 
"Possibly  I  may  be  saved." 

Paul,  on  the  contrary,  knew.  'T  know 
Whom  I  have  believed ;  I  am  sure  that  He 
is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed 
unto  Him."  And  John  knew.  "We  know," 
he  cries,  "that  we  have  passed  from  death  unto 
183 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Govenimeiit. 

life."  And  Peter  knew.  "Thou,"  he  ex- 
claims, "art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Living 
God."  And  Thomas  knew.  "My  Lord  and 
my  God,"  is  the  glad  utterance  of  his  assured 
faith.  And  Job  knew.  "I  know  that  my  Re- 
deemer liveth."  And  thousands  and  millions 
of  God's  saints  have  thus  known,  walking 
through  life  in  the  abiding  assurance  of  their 
acceptance  with  God,  and  of  the  certainty  of 
their  salvation,  because  their  faith  rested  un- 
shaken upon  God's  pledged  word  in  Christ. 
Not  because  of  what  they  were  in  themselves, 
but  because  of  what  Christ  was,  and  because 
of  what  Christ  had  suffered  and  done  for 
them,  and  because  of  what  God  had  in  His 
Word  promised  to  them  for  Christ's  sake, 
which  Word  of  God  their  faith  fully  accepted 
and  trusted,  they  knew  that  they  were  saved. 
Not  that  they  would  be  saved,  but  were  now 
already  saved.  Their  salvation  was  not  merely 
a  hope,  but  an  assurance,  a  blessed  certainty. 
With  Paul  they  could   say :     "I  know." 

And  then,  how  we,  also,  by  this  feebleness 
of  our  faith  in  Christ  as  our  Saviour,  rob 
ourselves. 

184 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

If  Christ  is  what  the  Scriptures  say  to  us 
that  He  is,  and  what  Paul  took  and  found 
Him  to  be,  and  what  to  thousands  and  millions 
of  Christians,  in  all  ages,  He  has,  by  blessed 
experience,  proven  Himself  to  be,  then  we  have 
in  Him  a  fulness  of  salvation  for  every  want 
of  our  spiritual  being,  both  for  this  life  and 
for  the  life  to  come.  By  faith  we  may  reach 
out  and  take  to  ourselves  from  Him  a  supply 
for  our  every  possible  want.  Taking  Him, 
we  have  all. 

Is  it  pardon  of  our  sins  we  want?  Is  it 
reconciliation  to  God  we  want?  Is  it  comfort 
under  the  sorrows  of  life  we  want?  Is  it 
strength  for  life's  duties  we  want?  Is  it 
power  over  temptation  we  want?  Is  it  deliv- 
erance from  the  dominion  of  sin  within  us 
that  we  want  ?  Is  it  holiness  and  greater  like- 
ness to  God  we  want?  Is  it  assurance  of  sal- 
vation we  want?  Is  it  triumph  over  death  we 
want  ?  Is  it  the  resurrection  of  our  bodies,  the 
blissful  immortality  of  our  souls,  is  it  heaven 
and  holiness  and  happiness  and  home  eternally 
with  God  we  want?  Oh,  if  our  faith  would 
but  lay  hold  on  them,  they  are  all  laid  up  for 
185 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

us  in  Christ,  and  offered  to  us,  as  our  uiihni- 
ited   possession    in   Christ ! 

"All  things,"  says  Paul,  in  his  letter  to  the 
Corinthian  Christians,  "all  things  are  yours, 
whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas,  or  the 
world,  or  life  or  death,  or  things  present,  or 
things  to  come :  all  are  yours  and  ye  are 
Christ's  and  Christ  is  God's."  And  writing 
to  the  Romans,  he  says:  "He  that  spared  not 
His  own  Son,  but  delivered  Him  up  for  us 
all,  how  shall  He  not  with  Him  also  freely 
give  us  all  things?" 

Thus  is  Christ,  as  a  Saviour,  a  great  infinite 
treasure-house  both  of  grace  now  and  of  glory 
hereafter.  In  Him  is  offered  to  us  an  abun- 
dant supply  for  every  need.  Empty,  we  can  fill 
ourselves  with  the  very  fulness  of  God.  Sin- 
ful, we  can  through  Him  be  made  white  as 
the  driven  snow.  Dead,  in  Him  we  can  have 
life,  and  can  have  it  abundantly.  "Christ 
Jesus,"  says  Paul,  "is  of  God  made  unto  us 
wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  sanctification, 
and  redemption."  What  a  sweep  of  blessings, 
both  for  time  and  for  eternity,  that  includes ! 
How  it  embraces  the  whole  circle  of  our  wants 
186 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

both  now  and  forever!  The  soul,  means  the 
Apostle,  that  has  Christ,  has  all.  Or  as  the 
poet  has  sung: 

"Jesus  Christ  is  my  All  in  All, 
My  Comfort  and  my  Love ; 

My  Life  below,  and  He  shall  be 
My  Joy  and  Crown  above." 


187 


UN -UPLIFTED    SAVIOUR 
THE  GREAT  ATTRACTION. 

TEXT. 

"And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 
all  men  unto  Me." — John  xii.  32. 

In  some  relation,  when  Jesus  died  upon  the 
Cross  of  Calvary,  every  rational  and  spiritual 
being  in  all  the  universe  fixed  its  eye  upon 
Him  and  turned,  as  it  were,  to  behold  and  con- 
sider that  awful  tragedy  which  was  there,  in 
His  Death,  transpiring.  All  with  feelings  of 
some  kind,  as  He  here  in  our  Text  predicts, 
were  drawn  to  Him. 

God,  His  Divine  Father,  was  then  drawn  to 
Him;  every  attribute  of  the  Godhead  inter- 
ested ;  divine  love  melted  into  pity,  divine  jus- 
tice satisfied,  divine  holiness  vindicated  and 
gloriously  revealed. 

The  Angelic  Hosts  of  Heaven  were  then 
drawn  to  Him,  lost  in  wonder  over  that  mys- 
tery of  mysteries,  the  death,  in  agony  and 
shame,  for  sinful  man,  of  Him  Whom  in  His 
188 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

celestial  glory  they  had  worshipped  as  their 
Divine  Lord  and  King. 

,Satan,  also,  and  all  his  fallen  spirits,  in 
that  hour,  were  then  drawn  to  the  sight  of 
that  uplifted  Christ,  knowing  that  then,  by 
that  wondrous  death,  their  sceptre  of  moral 
dominion  over  man  was  being  broken,  and 
that  the  lost  human  race  was  then  being  de- 
livered from  their  thralldom  and  restored  again 
to  God. 

And,  to  that  Uplifted  Dying  Saviour  were 
also  then  drawn  all  classes,  and  all  conditions, 
and  all  characters  of  human  spectators.  The 
prejudiced  and  malignant  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, rejoicing  in  their  supposed  victory,  at 
last,  over  Him ;  the  embittered  and  raging  Jew- 
ish Multitude  crying  out :  "His  blood  be  upon 
us  and  upon  our  children" ;  the  noble  company 
of  Holy  Women,  faithful  to  Him  even  when 
boasting  Apostles  had  forsaken  Him  and  fled ; 
the  Convicted  Centurian,  testifying:  "Truly 
this  was  the  Son  of  God" ;  the  Penitent  Thief, 
meekly  praying:  "Lord,  remember  me  when 
Thou  comest  into  Thy  Kingdom" ;  the  Rough 
Soldiers,  plunging  the  cruel  Spear  into  His 
189 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Holy  side,  and  casting  lots  for  His  seamless 
robe ;  the  Beloved  Disciple  John,  standing 
silently  and  gazing  up  with  tearful  look  of 
sympathy  and  love  into  His  marred  and  sor- 
row-stricken face ;  His  Mother,  into  whose 
soul,  at  last,  as  the  aged  Simeon  long  before 
had  predicted,  the  sword  had  indeed  entered ; 
the  Awe-Struck  Spectators,  filled  with  alarm 
as  they  beheld  the  Sun  veil  himself  in  dark- 
ness, the  earth  quake,  the  Temple  Veil  rend 
itself  in  twain  from  top  to  bottom,  the  Rocks 
rend,  the  Graves  open,  the  Sheeted  and  Buried 
leap  into  life — all  these  were  observers  of  that 
dying  scene  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  beheld 
as  He,  the  Uplifted  and  Atoning  Saviour  then 
and  there  laid  down  His  life  as  a  ransom  for 
guilty  man.  , 

Literally,  then,  did  Jesus,  "lifted  up  on  the 
Cross,"  draw  all  to  Him.  God  and  Man, 
Heaven  and  Hell,  Earth  and  Sky,  Friend  and 
Foe,  Angels  both  of  light  and  of  darkness, 
Beings  both  visible  and  invisible,  incarnate 
and  unincarnate,  all,  all,  all,  in  that  pivotal  hour 
in  the  world's  history,  either  in  love  or  in  hate, 
either  in  friendship  or  in  enmity,  were  attract- 
190 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ed,  directed,  "drawn,"  to  Him  who  there  ex- 
pired as  an  atoning  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of 
the  world.  Yes  :  the  Universe  gathered  there  ; 
and  beheld  and  listened ;  and,  in  some  way, 
were  all  affected  by  that  wondrous  death  which 
was  there  endured.  The  beams  of  moral  in- 
fluence, radiating  from  that  uplifted  Cross  of 
Christ,  like  the  out-going  rays  of  some  bril- 
liant calcium  light,  rose  up  to  Heaven,  pierced 
down  into  the  very  darkness  of  Hell,  and  illu- 
mined the  whole  wide  universe  of  God.  Then, 
being  there,  on  the  Cross,  lifted  up,  Jesus  did, 
as  He  foretold,  draw  all,  literally  all,  all  na- 
ture, all  men,  all  angels,  all  fiends,  all  be- 
ings, human,  angelic,  spiritual,  divine  unto 
Himself.  "And  I  if  I  be  lifted  up  on  the 
Cross  from  the  earth  there  to  die  as  I  will, 
an  atoning  death,  I  will,  by  My  death,  and 
in  My  very  act  of  dying,  draw  all,  as  to  one 
great  center,  unto  Me." 

But  these  words  of  Jesus  have  a  deeper  sig- 
nification than  this  merely  historical  or  literal 
one.  They  possessed  in  His  mind,  when  He 
uttered  them,  an  infinitely  higher  sense.  Pro- 
phetically they  express  also  a  great  spiritual 
191 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

fact :  a  present  and  ever  abiding  spiritual  truth  ; 
a  divine  promise,  left  to  the  Church  as  a  legacy 
from  her  Ascended  Lord,  even  to  the  end  of 
time,  for  guidance  and  encouragement.  "And 
I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will  draw 
all  men  unto  Me." 

By  this  Jesus  means,  we  may  say, 

That  if  he  be  morally  and  spiritually 
lifted  up,  he  will  morally  and  spiritual- 
ly draw  men  to  himself. 

The  Uplifted  Christ  is  still  the  great  Attrac- 
tion. Jesus,  if  held  up  rightly  before  the 
world,  will  now  as  ever,  draw  to  Himself  the 
World. 

"If  I  be  lifted  up;  if  I  be  spiritually  lifted 
up  by  My  Church  before  the  world,  as  the 
world's  one  and  only  Saviour ;  if  I  be  preached 
truly  and  faithfully  by  My  Ministry;  if  I  be 
exhibited  aright  in  the  holy  life  and  charac- 
ter of  My  people ;  if  I  be  labored  for  earnestly, 
by  mind  and  heart  and  tongue  and  time  and 
talent  and  influence  and  wealth  and  sacrifice, 
on  the  part  of  all  My  professed  disciples ;  if  I 
be  thus  "lifted  up,"  if  only  this  one  simple 
condition  be  complied  with,  then  will  I  draw  all 
192 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

men  unto  Me,  all  classes,  all  ages,  all  characters. 
Then  will  I  convict,  convert,  sanctify  and  save 
all  kinds  of  souls.  Then,  as  the  magnet  draws 
to  itself  the  filings  of  steel,  as  the  moon  moves 
and  sways  under  her  influence  the  tides  of  the 
sea,  as  the  sun  attracts  and  holds  in  their 
orhits  the  worlds  and  planets  of  the  great 
Solar  System,  so  will  I  also,  by  My  attractive 
grace,  by  the  divine  moral  magnetism  of  My 
Being  and  Character,  gather  to  myself  the 
nations,  and  everywhere  draw  to  Myself  the 
hearts  of  the  children  of  men.  Then  will  I 
build  Zion  as  a  City,  and  then  will  I  cause 
My  glory  to  cover  the  earth  as  the  waters 
cover  the  sea." 

Such,  I  believe,  is  the  deep  spiritual  signifi- 
cation of  this  language  of  the  Saviour;  and 
this  is  the  great  spiritual  truth  which  here,  in 
these  words.  He  inculcates. 

But  is  this,  indeed,  a  truth?  Does  Jesus, 
if  presented  aright  to  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  the  children  of  men,  thus  draw  them  unto 
Himself?  Is  there  this  spiritual  "attractive- 
ness" in  the  Uplifted  Christ?  For  your 
answer  turn  to  the  history,  for  a  moment,  of 
193 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

the  Christian  Church.  On  every  page  of  that 
history  from  the  very  birthday  of  Christianity 
down  to  this  present  hour,  there  may  be  found 
an  abundance  of  confirmation.  From  every 
part  of  it  flashes  out  the  evidence  that  an 
earnest  faithful  "Hfting  up"  of  Christ,  by  the 
Ministry  and  by  the  Church,  has  always  re- 
sulted in  the  drawing  of  men  to  Christ,  in 
their  conviction,  conversion,  salvation.  John 
the  Baptist  thus  in  the  Wilderness  of  Judea 
and  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  uplifted  Him, 
saying  to  all  around:  "Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world," 
and  some  immediately  became  His  disciples. 
Peter,  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  thus  uplifted 
Him,  and,  at  once,  drawn  by  the  magnetism  of 
His  grace,  three  thousand  convicted  and  peni- 
tent souls  believed  on  Plim  and  confessed  Him 
as  their  Saviour.  Paul,  also,  thus  uplifted 
Him,  in  Rome,  in  Thessalonica,  in  Corinth, 
in  Philippi,  in  Athens,  in  innumerable  places 
and  nations,  everywhere  with  earnest  eloquence 
pointing  men  to  Him  as  their  one  only  Re- 
deemer, bidding  all  "Believe  on  Him  if  they 
would  be  saved,"  and  lo !  everywhere  multi- 
194 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

tudes,  drawn  to  Him  by  the  preciousness  of 
His  character  and  His  divine  abiHty  to  satisfy 
all  the  deep  longings  of  their  hearts,  did  be- 
lieve on  Him  and  fonnd  in  Him  the  peace 
and  life  for  which  they  sought.  And  thus  also 
did  all  the  Apostles  uplift  Him,  beginning  at 
Jerusalem,  then  finding  their  way  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  holding  Him  up  in  the  streets 
of  Rome  and  even  in  the  palace  of  the  Csesars, 
in  Scythia  on  the  north,  in  distant  India  on 
the  east,  in  Gaul  on  the  west,  in  Egypt  and 
Ethiopia  on  the  south,  everywhere  publish- 
ing Him  as  the  Divine  Christ,  as  Jesus  and  the 
Resurrection,  as  the  one  only  and  sufficient 
Saviour  for  sinful  and  sorrowful  and  perish- 
ing humanity ;  and  soon,  as  the  result  of  such 
uplifting  of  Christ,  Christianity  became  the 
victorious  and  acknowledged  Religion  of  the 
civilized  world.  This  new  Faith,  whose  sym- 
bol was  the  Cross,  seated  itself  upon  the  mighty 
throne  of  the  Roman  Empire,  silenced  the 
wisdom  of  the  Schools,  closed  the  Temples  of 
Paganism,  put  out  the  fires  of  sacrifice  upon 
the  altars  of  heathen  idolatry,  and  everywhere 
reared  Houses  of  Prayer  and  Praise  and  Wor- 
195 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ship,  in  the  name  of  Christ,  to  the  one  only 
true  God.  Thus,  by  the  Uphfting  of  Christ, 
did  Christ  draw,  in  the  early  days  of  Chris- 
tianity, all  the  World  to  Himself. 

And  thus,  also,  in  all  the  centuries  since  those 
early  and  grand  aggressive  days  of  primitive 
Christianity,  whenever  and  wherever  He  has 
been  truly  lifted  up  by  His  Church  before  the 
World,  rightly  lived  and  proclaimed  by  those 
who  called  themselves  His  disciples,  Jesus  has 
drawn  souls  to  Himself  and  saved  them.  Al- 
ways, as  He  here  in  our  text  promises,  has 
He  proved  Himself  the  World's  great  moral 
attraction.  When  Wicklifife,  for  example, 
"bright  Morning-star  of  the  Reformation,"  up- 
lifted Him  in  England;  when  John  Huss  up- 
lifted Him  in  Bohemia  ;  when  Luther  so  brave- 
ly and  faithfully  uplifted  Him  in  Germany ; 
when  Calvin  and  Zwingle  uplifted  Him  in 
Geneva,  and  throughout  the  Valleys,  and  over 
the  Alpine  Mountains  of  Switzerland ;  when 
courageous  John  Knox  uplifted  Him  in  Scot- 
land ;  when  Wesley  and  Whitfield  uplifted 
Him  first  in  the  Old  World,  and  then  here 
in  the  New ;  when  the  dear  Moravians  up- 
196 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

lifted  Him  in  Greenland  and  in  the  West  In- 
dies ;  when  Ziegenbalg,  and  Schwartz,  and 
Carey  upHfted  Him  in  India ;  and  Judson  in 
Burmah ;  and  Henry  Martyn  in  Persia ;  and 
Robert  Morison  in  China ;  and  David  Brain- 
crd  and  John  EHot  and  the  Swedish  Lutherans 
upon  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  before  the 
landing  of  Penn,  among-  the  American  Indians  ; 
and  Moffat  and  Livingstone  and  OiBcer  and 
Day  uplifted  Him  in  Africa;  everywhere,  in 
all  these  places,  throughout  all  these  widely 
scattered  lands,  among  all  these  greatly  diver- 
sified tongues  and  peoples.  He  did  also  draw 
all  men  unto  Him.  Everywhere  the  simple 
story  of  the  Cross  had  divine  power.  Every- 
where it  was  clothed  with  mighty  attraction. 
Everywhere  it  won  its  way  into  men's  souls, 
subduing  their  stubborn  wills,  conquering  their 
love  of  sin,  melting  their  hard  hearts  into  peni- 
tence, bowing  them  in  faith  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus,  and  influencing  them  to  embrace  and 
confess  Him  as  their  Lord  and  Saviour.  Our 
text,  then,  expresses  an  undeniable  fact,  a 
glorious  and  most  encouraging  truth,  namely, 
that  Jesus,  if  He  be  spiritually  lifted  up,  will 
197 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

also  spiritually  draw  men  to  Him.  in  nearness 
of  character  and  life,  and  save  them. 

From  this  truth  we  may  now,  in  conclusion, 
learn  two  practical  lessons. 

We  may  learn  from  it  a  lesson  of  Personal 
Duty.  That  duty  is  to  lift  up  Jesus ;  and  so 
to  lift  Him  up  that  the  world  may  see  Him 
clearly  and  fully,  and  in  no  clouded  or  dis- 
torted or  erroneous  vision,  but  in  all  His  real 
and  true  divine-human  self,  Son  of  God  and 
Son  of  Man,  able  and  willing  Saviour  of  all 
who  will  believe  on  Him,  just  as  He  stands 
here  revealed  to  us  by  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
written  Word.  For,  only  when  He  is  thus 
rightly  lifted  up,  will,  or  can  He  draw  men 
to  Himself. 

Our  World,  now  as  ever,  is  a  lost  World. 
Men  everywhere  are  in  the  way  of  sin  and 
death.  Jn  our  own  day,  and  here  in  our  own 
land,  sin  appears  especially  to  abound.  We 
seem  to  have  come  in  our  national  history  to 
a  great  moral  and  religious  crisis.  The  forces 
of  evil  stand  massed  today,  as  perhaps  never 
before,  against  Christ  and  His  Church  ;  numer- 
ous, skillful,  bold,  defiant,  malignant,  united, 
198 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

mighty.  Skepticism,  Rituahsm,  Rationalism, 
Mormonism,  Communism,  Rumism,  Anti-Sab- 
bathism,  all  these  stand  marshaled,  today, 
here  in  our  land,  against  our  holy  Protestant 
Christian  Faith.  Scorn  for  the  Bible  as  the 
Word  of  God ;  Desecration  of  the  Lord's  Day ; 
Contempt  for  Authority,  human  and  divine ; 
Profanity ;  Lewdness ;  Intemperance ;  Worldli- 
ness  and  Mad  Thirst  for  Wealth ;  Wicked 
Monopolies  and  Heartless  Trusts ;  Socialism 
and  Bitter  Hate  on  the  part  of  the  Poor  against 
the  Rich;  Decay  of  the  Home-Life  and  of 
Home  Government  and  Education  of  the 
Young ;  Degeneracy  of  the  Moral  Tone  of  the 
Secular  Press ;  Wide-Spread  Dissemination  of 
Infidel  and  Corrupting  Literature ;  Low  Views 
of  the  Sanctity  of  the  Marriage  Relation  and 
an  alarming  Increase  of  Divorces ;  Political 
Corruption  and  Prostitution  of  Political  Parties 
at  the  feet  of  saloonists  and  hoodlums,  beg- 
ging for  their  suffrage ;  Infidelity  scoffing  at 
Christianity ;  and  Atheism,  calling  itself  Ag- 
nosticism, hooting  God  out  of  His  Universe; 
alas !  what  a  hideous  catalogue  of  moral  foes 
and  dangers  this  is  which  is  today  cursing 
199 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

our   land   and   threatening    us    with    national 
ruin ! 

And  what  is  the  remedy  for  it  all?  How 
shall  all  this  dreadful  on-rushing-  tide  of  sin 
he  stayed,  and  rolled  back  again,  and  our  dear 
land  be  saved  from  its  engulfing  and  damning 
power  ?  How  ?  How  ?  Our  text  gives,  I  be- 
lieve, the  one  only  true  answer.  That  answer 
is  :  "Lift  up  Christ  Crucified  ;  Hold  up  Jesus  ; 
Plant  the  Cross  in  the  way  of  all  these  per- 
ishing multitudes." 

This,  especially  in  our  day,  is  what  we,  as 
ministers,  must  do.  In  order  to  reform  society, 
in  order  to  regenerate  the  World,  in  order  to 
purify  the  Church,  in  order  to  reach  and 
uplift  and  save  souls,  we  must,  in  all  our 
preaching,  lift  up  Christ.  Not  ourselves,  but 
Christ ;  not  the  Church,  but  Christ ;  not  Forms 
and  Ceremonies,  but  Christ ;  Christ,  as  the  In- 
carnation of  Deity,  as  the  Revealer  of  the  will 
of  God,  as  the  Great  Teacher  of  Man,  as 
the  high  Model  of  faultless  character  and  of 
holy  living,  as  the  Divine  Benefactor  of  the 
human  race ;  and  especially  must  we  preach 
Christ  as  "lifted  up,"  the  Christ  crucified,  suf- 

200 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

fcring,  bleeding,  dying  on  the  Cross  as  a  Di- 
vine Sacrifice  for  man's  sins,  and  as  man's 
ransom  from  eternal  death ;  this  must  be  the 
chief  burden  and  theme  of  all  our  preaching. 

And  this,  also,  will  always  be  successful 
preaching.  The  pulpit  that  thus  preaches 
Christ  will  always  be  a  pulpit  of  power.  Men 
will  be  arrested  by  it,  convicted  of  sin  by  it, 
converted,  sanctified,  saved  by  it.  Such  a 
pulpit  becomes  the  great  regenerating  and 
uplifting  agency  of  society.  It  reforms  and 
purifies  the  whole  social  life  of  the  state.  It 
is  the  salt,  the  life,  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
It  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

And  not  only  is  there  power  in  the  pulpit 
that  thus  lifts  up  Christ,  but  there  is  also 
abiding  freshness  and  attractiveness  in  it.  It 
has  in  it  the  element  of  permanent  and  in- 
creasing popularity.  This  preaching  of  Christ 
never  grows  stale  or  old.  It  is  always  the  "old, 
old  story,"  yet  always  new. 

This,  then,  is  the  one  duty  of  the  pulpit : 
namely,  always  and  only  to  preach  Christ  and 
Him  crucified.  Then  only  will  it  be  a  pulpit 
of  real,  living,  permanent  power.     And  then, 

201 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

also,  in  the  best  and  truest  sense  of  the  word, 
will  it  be  an  attractive  pulpit,  drawing  men's 
souls  to  Christ,  even  as  Jesus  here  says :  "And 
I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 
There  is,  however,  here  in  our  text,  also, 
A  lesson  of  Encouragement  for  us,  as  Chris- 
tians, as  well  as  a  lesson  of  Duty. 

Often,  under  a  conscious  sense  of  our  per- 
sonal weakness  and  insufficiency,  and  want  of 
talent,  and  lack  of  ability,  we  shrink  even  from 
the  attempt  to  do  anything  for  Christ,  and  for 
the  salvation  of  souls.  We  ministers  often 
feel  thus ;  often  with  the  Apostle  exclaiming : 
"Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things?"  and  often 
with  the  Prophet  crying  out :  "Ah,  Lord  God, 
I  cannot  speak.  I  am  a  child."  Oh,  how 
often  this  sense  of  weakness,  of  inability  for 
the  great  work  before  us  has  almost  crushed 
us.  And  you,  also,  of  the  laity,  members  of 
the  Church,  how  often  doubtless  you,  too,  have 
been  thus  burdened,  feeling  that  you  could  do 
nothing  by  which  souls  would  be  saved.  But 
why,  now,  should  any  of  us  feel  or  speak 
thus?  Our  ground  of  encouragement  in  Chris- 
tian  work   is   not    in    ourselves,   but    it   is   in 

202 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Christ.  Jesus,  here  in  our  text,  reveals  to  us 
a  secret  by  which  we  can  all  have  power  to 
win  souls,  by  which  we  may  all  be  successful 
workers  for  Him.  He  here  says  to  us  :  "The 
power  to  awaken,  draw,  convert,  sanctify,  and 
save  the  souls  of  men  is  not  in  you,  but  in  Me. 
I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  I  will  draw  all  men  unto 
Me ;  not  you,  but  I ;  if  only  I  be  lifted  up,  that 
is  all  you  have  to  do,  I  will  draw  men  to  My- 
self and  to  Heaven;  only  so  I  be  lifted  up, 
preached,  consistently  lived,  tenderly  and  lov- 
ingly spoken  of,  rightly  presented  to  the 
world,  no  matter  how  feeble  the  hand  that 
lifts  Me  up,  or  how  stammering  the  tongue 
that  speaks  for  Me,  or  how  broken  the  voice 
that  sings  for  Me;  I,  not  you,  by  your  elo- 
quence, or  learning,  or  talent,  but  I,  wholly 
by  the  divine  attractive  power  that,  as  the  Son 
of  God,  is  in  Me,  I  will  draw  all  men  unto 
Me;  I  will  do  it  all;  all  you  have  to  do  is  to 
so  hold  or  lift  Me  up  that  sinners  may  see  Me." 
Brethren  and  Friends,  what  a  blessed  secret 
that  is !  What  encouragement  to  us  all,  even 
to  the  least  talented,  these  words  of  the  Mas- 
ter are !  In  the  may:nct,  not  in  the  hand  that 
203 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

holds  it,  is  the  attraction.  In  the  candle,  not 
in  the  candlestick  in  which  it  is  placed,  is  the 
light.  In  the  Brazen  Serpent,  not  in  the  pole 
npholding  it,  was  the  healing  power.  And  so 
the  power  to  win  and  save  sonls  is  not  in  us, 
but  in  Christ.  We  cannot  draw  them,  but  He 
can.  We  cannot  melt  and  change  their  hard, 
bad  hearts,  but  He  can.  And,  if  only  He  be 
indeed  by  us  rightly  lifted  up,  He  also,  as 
He  here  promised,  most  certainly  will. 

Not  long  ago,  a  railroad  bridge  was  sud- 
denly washed  away.  The  watchman's  little 
daughter  was  the  only  one,  for  some  reason, 
who,  at  the  moment,  knew  what  had  occurred. 
A  train  was  soon  due.  She  saw  the  danger 
and  death,  which,  unless  warned,  awaited  it. 
And  so,  taking  her  dead  father's  red  signal 
{  flag,  and  going  up  the  road,  she  stood  arid 
waited  until  the  train  came  in  sight,  and  then, 
raising  the  flag,  she  waved  it,  checked  the 
train,  saved  it.  It  was  only  a  child's  hand  that 
held  and  waved  that  danger  signal  and  saved 
that  onrushing  train.  In  herself  alone,  with- 
out that  flag,  she  could  have  done  nothing. 
Planting  herself  before  that  train,  her  little 

204 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

body  could  not  Iiave  stayed  it.  Her  feeble 
voice  could  not  have  called  it  to  a  halt.  The 
power  was  in  the  flag,  symbol  of  danger,  which 
her  childish  hand  there  so  nobly  held  up. 

And  so,  beloved,  the  power  to  save  men  is 
not,  I  repeat,  in  us.  The  strongest  of  us, 
the  wisest,  the  holiest  are,  in  our- 
selves, but  little  children,  unable  to 
save  one  single  soul.  But  the  power 
is  all  in  Christ.  He  saves  them.  And  we  can 
be  instruments  by  which  He  will  save  them. 
We  can  show  sinners  the  Cross.  We  can  tell 
them  of  Jesus.  We  can  be  uplifters  of  this 
Son  of  God  as  the  lost  World's  one  only  Re- 
deemer. This  we  all  can  do.  This  we  all 
ought  to  do. 

Make  this,  then,  your  one  grand  life-work, 
my  brother.  Be  ever,  in  every  possible  way, 
an  uplifter  of  Christ.     By  your  faith  in  Him,  / 

by  your  confession  of  Him,  by  your  life  for 
Him,  by  your  worship  of  Him,  by  your  labor 
and  giving  and  sacrifice  for  Him,  manifest 
Christ;  ever  remembering  what  He  says  in 
our  text:  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me." 
205 


THE  STRENGTH  OF  YOUNG 

MEN. 

TEXT. 

"/  liaz'e  tvrittcn  unto  yuu  young  men,  because  ye 
are  strong." — 1  John  ii.  J4. 

One  of  the  marked  characteristics  of  all 
young  life  is  Strength.  There  is  still  in  it 
the  unexpended  force  or  energy  of  its  own 
fulness  and  freshness  of  being.  It^has  as  yet 
lost  nothing  of  itself  in  conflict  with  the  other 
forms  of  life  outside  of  itself  and  opposed  pos- 
sibly to  itself.  It  is  life,  also,  untouched  as 
yet  by  the  breath  of  decay,  by  the  ,  frost  of 
age,  by  the  law  of  decline,  by  the  force  within 
itself  of  dissolution  and  death.  It  is  young 
life,  fresh  from  God,  who  is  the  Infinite  Foun- 
tain of  Life;  and,  because  thus  young  and 
fresh  from  God,  it  is  also  robust,  healthful, 
strong  life.  Because  of  its  very  nezvness  of 
being  it  has  in  it  the  quality  of  strength. 

This  is  true  of  all  vegetable  life.     It  is  true 

of  all  irrational  animal  life.     It  is  especially 

true  of  all  human  life.     Man  has  his  fullest 

vigor,  energy,  force  of  being,  in  his  first  man- 

206 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

hood  years.  Not  in  all  respects,  by  any  means, 
has  he  then  his  best  strength,  but  he  then  has 
strength,  inherent  strength,  potential  strength, 
strength  as  yet  undisciplined,  and  perhaps  un- 
harnessed and  undirected  as  yet  to  any  one 
great  purpose  or  end  in  life,  but,  nevertheless, 
strength. 

Pre-eminently  strength  is  the  characteristic 
of  every  young  man.  He  is,  in  many  respects, 
already  strong.  Especially  has  he  in  himself 
the  potencies  of  strength:  possibilities  of 
strength,  germs  of  power,  enlarging  capacities 
of  great  future  achievements,  a  latent  force  of 
being  which,  both  in  time  and  in  eternity,  will 
either  lift  him  up  into  ever  higher  planes  of 
Life  and  Light  and  holy  Fellowship  with  God, 
or  will  sink  him,  like  a  falling  star,  down  into 
ever  deepening  lower  depths  of  moral  dark- 
ness and  death. 

In  what  respects  is  the  young  man  strong? 
In  what  centers  his  strength?  Samson's 
strength  was  in  his  hair.  The  strength  of 
Hercules  was  in  his  brawny  muscle  and 
mighty  arm.  The  strength  of  Mercury  was 
in  his  eloquence.  In  what  is  .every  young 
207 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

man  strong?     Where  hes   his   strength?     In 
a  number  of  things. 

There  is,  in  connection  with  every  young 
man,  I  remark, 

I.     The  strength  of  joyous  hope  and  of 

BRIGHT  EXPECTATION  BY  PARENTS  AND  FRIENDS. 

No  words  can  well  express  how  strong  every 
young  man  is  in  his  mother's  love,  and  in  his 
father's  hopes  and  ambitions.  There  is  no 
affection  like  the  affection  of  a  Parent;  no 
devotion  or  attachment  so  deep,  so  fervent,  so 
enduring,  so  quenchless.  Time  does  not 
weaken  it.  Distance  does  not  diminish  it. 
It  lives  on  in  the  parental  heart  as  long  as 
that  heart  continues  to  beat  on  earth ;  and 
when  Death  at  last  stills  it  here,  it  lives  on 
forever  in  it  in  the  life  to  come.  The  most 
immortal  thing  on  earth  or  in  heaven,  next  to 
the  love  of  God  Himself,  is  the  love  of  father 
or  mother  for  a  child. 

Here,  then,  in  the  love  of  his  parents,  in 
their  willing  sacrifices  for  him,  in  their  pride 
in  him,  in  their  expectations  and  hopes  con- 
cerning him,  every  young  man  is  strong. 
208 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Those  hearts  he  has  it  in.  his  power  either  to 
fill  with  g-ladness  or  to  break  with  sorrow ; 
either  to  send  singing  and  happy  along  life's 
pathway  and  make  joyous  even  in  death,  or 
compel  to  walk  life's  journey  in  tears,  and 
go,  at  last,  in  sadness  to  their  graves,  exclaim- 
ing as  did  David  over  Absalom :  "O  my  son, 
my  son,  would  God  I  had  died  for  thee !"  It  is 
the  strength  of  Love :  the  Love  of  a  father, 
the  holy  deathless  Love  of  a  mother ;  placing 
itself  in  the  power  of  the  child,  and  saying: 
"Love  makes  me  your  prisoner ;  my  life  is  in 
your  determinmg;  yours  is  the  voice  which 
decides  for  me  either  my  happiness  or  my 
misery ;  my  joy  or  my  sorrow."  Blessed  is  the 
young  man  who  recognizes  this  strength  over 
Parental  Destiny  which  Parental  Love  thus 
gives  him,  and  who  nobly  resolves  never  to 
use  that  strength  in  wounding  and  breaking 
a  father's  or  a  mother's  heart,  but  to  so  ex- 
pend it  as  ever  to  make  life  to  them  an  un- 
broken psalm  of  praise,  and  cause  them,  even 
down  to  its  close,  and  even  through  all  eter- 
nity, to  bless  God  for  the  gift  to  them  of  such 
a  Son. 

209 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

But  every  young  man  is  strong  in  himself. 
In  his  own  being,  as  well  as  in  the  love  for 
him  of  others,  he  is  power.  There  is,  I  there- 
fore yet  remark : 

II.  The  strength  of  splendid  endow- 
ments AND  MAGNIFICENT  POSSIBILITIES  IN 
EVERY    YOUNG    MAN. 

What  fine  endowments  God  has  given  in  a 
fully  and  symmetrically  developed  young  man ! 
What  lofty  gifts  such  a  young  man  possesses ! 

He  possesses  physical  strength;  and  that  is 
a  blessed  gift.  A  strong  physique  is  a  choice 
possession.  A  clean,  pure,  healthy,  and  well 
developed  body  is  something  of  great  value, 
worthy  to  be  sought  after.  It  is  the  work- 
manship of  God.  It  is  the  temple  of  the  soul. 
It  is  the  instrument  by  which  the  spirit  puts 
forth  its  energies  and  achieves  its  purposes. 
Honor,  therefore,  as  a  young  man,  your  body. 
By  fresh  air,  the  use  of  simple  and  nutritious 
food,  manly  exercise,  an  abundance  of  sleep, 
abstinence  from  all  harmful  vices,  develop  it 
into  best  possible  perfection.  By  athletic 
games  and  steady  and  wise  gymnastic  practice 

210 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

secure  for  yourself,  as  you  can  thus  do,  a 
strong  physical  manhood. 

But  intellectual  strength  is  also  an  endow- 
ment of  the  ideal  young  man.  Athanasius 
was  but  a  young  man  when,  in  the  Great  Coun- 
cil of  Nice,  he  stood  forth  as  the  able  and  elo- 
quent defender  of  the  Deity  of  Christ.  John 
Calvin  was  but.  a  young  man  when  he  wrote 
his  immortal  "Theological  Institutes,"  a  work 
which,  however  men  may  differ  in  their  re- 
spective views  of  its  doctrines,  must  be  con- 
fessed to  be  one  of  the  most  masterly  pro- 
ductions that  has  ever  been  penned.  Luther, 
also,  was  but  a  young  man,  only  thirty-four, 
when,  by  nailing  up  his  ninety-five  theses,  he 
struck  his  first  great  open  blow  against  the 
errors  of  Rome. 

And  so  in  the  history  of  the  World,  as  well 
as  of  the.  Church,  young  men  have  generally 
been  the  Chief  and  Prominent  Actors. 

Washington  was  not  yet  thirty-three  when 
he  took  command  of  the  Continental  Army. 
Alexander  Hamilton  was  only  thirty-three 
when  he  became  Federal  Treasurer,  and,  as 
Webster   said,    "smote   the   corpse   of   public 

211 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

credit,  and  it  rose  upon  its  feet."  John  Jay 
was  only  thirty-one  when  he  took  his  seat  as 
President  of  the  First  Continental  Congress. 
James  Madison  w^as  only  thirty-six  when  he 
wrote  his  famous  papers  in  the  "Federalist." 
William  H.  Seward  was  already  a  profound 
thinker,  philosopher,  lawyer,  and  was  already 
in  the  State  Senate  at  thirty-two.  Alexander 
had  already  conquered  the  world  at  thirty- 
three.  Cicero  was  famous  as  an  orator  already 
at  twenty-six.  Napoleon  was  already  Emper- 
or before  he  was  thirty-four.  Pitt  was  Prime 
Minister  before  he  was  thirty-four. 

And  so  in  multitudes  of  other  cases.  In 
both  Church  and  State,  all  along  in  the  World's 
History,  it  is  young  men  who  have,  in  large 
measure,  been  the  great  leaders  of  thought, 
and  of  the  great  historic  activities  of  the  hu- 
man race,  and  who  have  moulded  and  deter- 
mined the  character  and  destiny  both  of  their 
own  age  and  of  the  ages  following.  They 
were  then  already,  as  young  men,  strong, 
either  as  a  blessing  or  as  a  curse  both  to  them- 
selves and  to  thousands  and  even  millions  of 
others.    Intellectual  power,  as  well  as  physical, 

212 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

generally  decays  with  advancing  years.  Men 
of  great  intellectual  strength,  like  John  Quincy 
Adams,  like  Bismarck,  like  Gladstone,  at  sev- 
enty and  eighty  years  of  age,  are,  in  this  re- 
spect, exceptional.  The  rule  is  that  age  brings 
with  it  enfeebled  mental  force.  The  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  for  example,  one  of  the  greatest 
of  the  World's  soldiers,  is  reported,  in  his  last 
years,  to  have  lost  all  memory  of  his  own 
great  exploits,  and  when,  for  his  entertain- 
ment, the  history  of  them  was  read  to  him, 
rising  up  he  would  enthusiastically  ask :  "Who 
commanded?"  And  so,  also.  Sir  Isaac  New- 
ton, whose  strength  of  intellect  in  his  full 
manhood  years  was  unequaled,  in  his  last 
years  was  unable  to  understand  the  simplest 
principles  of  the  great  problems  which  he  had 
once  solved  with  greatest  ease.  And  thus 
generally.  In  old  age  there  is  the  waning  of 
intellectual  power,  the  abating  of  the  mental 
strength  of  earlier  years. 

But  young  men  are,  strong  also  in  Spirit :  in 
Heart  and  Hope,  in  Enthusiasm,  in  Self-Con- 
fidence and  heroic  Daring.     The  blood  ever 
courses  warm  and   swiftly  through  a  young 
213 


Joy  in  tlie  Divine  Government. 

man's  veins,  inciting  him  to  difficult  under- 
takings, and  assuring  him  of  success  in  it 
whatever  may  oppose.  Not  so  with  old  men. 
Thc}'^,  on  the  contrary,  taught  by  experience, 
remembering  many  past  disappointments  and 
surrounded  by  the  wrecks  of  many  shattered 
idols  and  blasted  hopes,  are  timid  and  cau- 
tious, have  lost  spirit,  are  reluctant  to  make 
ventures.  They  lack  the  faith  and, hope  of 
success  which  they  once  had,  and  which  are  al- 
ways necessary  in  order  to  spur  one  on  to  brave 
and  great  endeavors.  It  is  the  young  man 
who  possesses  these,  who  will  dare  anything, 
who,  in  his,  warm  enthusiasm  and  assurance 
of  success,  will  attempt  the  achievement  of 
even  things  seemingly  impossible,  and  who, 
because  thus  hopeful  and  daring,  is  strong, 
and  accomplishes  what  he  attempts,  "I  write 
unto  you,  young  men,  because  ye  are  strong." 
Such,  now,  hastily, outlined,  are  the  endow- 
ments of  young  men,  and  in  these  endowments 
is  their  strength.  And  hence,  also  their  Pos- 
sibilities. Clothed  with  such  power,  having 
such  Strength,  they  are  capable  of  great 
things.  They  are  uncstcd  with  magnificent 
214 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

Possibilities:  possibilities  of  usefulness,  of 
honor,  of  happiness,  of  blessing,  and  possibil- 
ities also  of  fearful  self-degradation,  of  shame, 
of  harm  to  society,  or  injury  to  the  Church  and 
to  the  Cause  of  Christ,  of  moral  ruin  both  to 
themselves  and  to  others  both  in  time  and  in 
eternity. 

And  right  there  centers  the  importance  of 
every  young  man.  It  is  that  which  awakens 
such  deep  interest  in  him  on  the  part  of  all 
thoughtful  and  good  people  older  than  him- 
self. Not  so  much  because  of  what  he  yet  is, 
but  because  of  what  he  may,  and  necessarily 
will,  either  for  evil  or  for  good,  become;  par- 
ents, teachers,  pastors,  the  State,  the  school, 
the .  Church  all  fix  upon  him  their  anxious 
thought  and  seek  to  guide  him  into  those  right 
pathways  both  of  character  and  life  which 
will  make  him  a  blessing  to  himself  and  to  all 
with  whom  he  has  to  do.  In  him  is  tremen- 
dous latent  strength,  a  pent-up  energy  and 
force  which  is  mighty.  How  shall  that  strength 
be  expended?  What  moral  direction  in  life 
shall  that  energy  take?  To  what  uses  shall 
that  force  be  applied  ?  On  yonder  railway 
215 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

track  stands  a  locomotive.  The  fire  is  burn- 
ing in  its  furnace.  Its  water  is  heated  into 
steam.  Power  has  been  generated.  Its  every 
part  is  trembhng  with  the  mighty  force  which 
throbs  within  it.  It  has  great  possibihties 
within  it.  It  may  sweep  on  in  safety  to  their 
distant  homes  the  hundreds  and  thousands  of 
passengers  filhng  the  train  attached  to  it,  or 
it  may  dash  both  itself  and  them  over  the  preci- 
pice into  ruin  and  death.  Its  power  gives  it 
mighty  possibilities;  but  they  are  possibilities 
of  death  as  well  as  of  life.  And  so  with  every 
young  man.  He  has  power.  He  is  strong. 
And  because  of  his  strength  he  has  vast, 
weighty,  far-reaching,  important  possibilities 
before  him.  Something  will  come  from  him. 
His  life  will  tell  in  some  direction.  That 
power  in  him  will  expend  itself  in  some  way. 
The  anxious  question  is :  Where,  how,  in 
what  way  ?  For  evil  or  for  good  ?  As  a  bane 
or  as  a  blessing?  For  the  Church  or  against 
her?  For  the  benefit  of  Society  or  for  its 
curse?  For  his  own  salvation  in  eternity, 
or  for  his  eternal  destruction  ?  That  is  the 
question. 

216 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 
And  this  leads  me  to  remark : 
III.     That  to  every  young  man  there  is, 

ESPECIALLY    IN    THIS    DAY,    THE    STRENGTH    OF 
MIGHTY  PERILS  AND   MORAL  DANGERS. 

Satan  is  working  hard  to  gain  young  men. 
He,  too,  knows  that  they  are  strong.  He  sees 
the  power  there  is  in  them,  and  he  well  knows 
that  if  he  can  gain  them  they  will  do  him^good 
service.  And  hence  all  his  subtle,  captivating, 
varied,  persistent,  mighty  efforts  to  win  them. 
What  agents  and  agencies  thus  to  gain  them 
he  has  at  work  !  What  allurements  and  temp- 
tations !  What  deceptions  and  wiles !  What 
appeals  to  taste,  to  imagination,  to  their  love 
of  the  beautiful,  to  their  hope  of  gain,  to  their 
pleasure  in  society,  to  their  appetite  and  pas- 
sion and  lust !  What  an  undermining  of 
moral  principles  and  of  Christian  faith.  What 
assaults  of  doubt  and  scepticism.  What  temp- 
tations to  aimlessness  in  life,  to  idleness,  to 
extravagance,  to  untruthfulness,  to  dishonesty, 
to  profanity,  to  intemperance,  to  lewdness,  to 
vice  of  every  kind !  What  perils,  on  every 
hand,  from  bad  literature,  bad  company,  bad 
217 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

practices,  bad  places :  from  the  Hquor  saloon, 
from  the  house  of  the  strange  woman,  from 
the  gaming  table:  from  all  these,  and  from 
many  other  places,  what  moral  perils  face  and 
lure  on  to  ruin  our  young  men ! 

In  the  midst  of  such  dangers  a  young  man 
well  needs  to  be  strong.  His  foes  also  are 
strong.  Like  a  very  giant  he  needs  to  stand 
up  in  his  integrity  against  them  and  heroically 
resist  them.  He  dare  not  dally  with  them. 
He  must  not  parley  with  them  a  moment.  He 
must  not  yield  to  them  an  inch.  His  strength, 
and  God's  strength  in  him,  must  be  uncom- 
promisingly and  unyieldingly  set  against  them 
or  he  will  go  down  before  them.  Many  young 
men  have,  alas!  thus  yielded  to  temptation, 
have  dallied  with  these  enemies  of  their  souls, 
have  listened  to  the  siren  songs  of  sin,  and 
have  gone  down.  You  can  see  them  every- 
where. Sad  sight,  indeed!  A  ruined  young 
man !  Ruined  already  in  the  morning  of  his 
life.  The  captive  of  Satan,  the  bondservant 
of  vicious  habits,  manhood  degraded,  purity 
gone,  character  wrecked,  reputation  lost,  awak- 
ened hopes  blasted,  possibilities  of  honor  and 
218 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

happiness  and  usefuhicss  all  thrown  away,  the 
man  in  body  and  soul  a  wreck,  life  here  and 
hereafter  lost.  I  know  of  no  sadder  sight ! 
Even  angels  might  well  weep  over  it.  And 
its  deepest  sadness  comes  from  the  fact  of  its 
commonness.  It  is  such  a  frequent  sight:  We 
see  it  so  often,  and  everywhere.  Our  land  is 
full  of  young  men  who  are  thus  going  down 
before  these  moral  perils  which  assail  them. 
And  many  of  them,  alas  !  come  from  our  Chris- 
tian homes,  and  from  the  altars  of  our  Chris- 
tian Churches,  and  from  our  Christian  Col- 
leges, and  go  down  before  these  forces  of  evil 
into  ruin  J  even  from  the  very  clasp  and  hold 
upon  them  of  our  best  Christian  love. 

Young  men,  you  to  whom  I  speak  this  even- 
ing, I  beg  you  to  recognize  in  their  true  char- 
acter these  perils  to  which  you  are  exposed. 
Know  these  enemies  who  are  thus  seeking  to 
rob  you  of  your  virtue,  your  manhood,  your 
piety,  your  purity,  your  happiness,  your  life, 
and  set  yourself  against  them  with  all  the 
might  of  your  being.  "Be  not  overcome  of 
evil."  But  stand.  Stand  for  your  life,  your 
Hfe  here,  your  eternal  life,  for  he  who  surren- 
219 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ders  to  sin,  he  who  breaks  faith  with  God,  he 
who  is  disloyal  to  Conscience  and  Truth  and 
Christ,  loses  both. 

But  I  advance  to  another  thought.  Has  the 
young  man,  arrayed  against  him  and  seeking 
his  destruction,  the  Strength  of  Mighty  Perils 
and  Moral  Dangers,  then  has  he,  I  now  remark, 

IV.     The  strength  of  mighty  helpers 

AND  STRONG  MORAL  ALLIES  ARRAYED  FOR  HIM. 
''the    REFORMATION    AS    THE    WORK    OF    GOD." 

I  can  but  enumerate  these  helpers  and  allies 
which  stand,  like  guardian  angels,  around 
every  young  man  in  the  moral  conflict  of  life. 
Their  number  is  large ;  their  power  to  help 
him,  if  he  will  avail  himself  of  it,  is  great ; 
so  that  w^e  may  say  encouragingly  to  every 
young  man,  assailed  by  these  moral  foes  which 
are  seeking  his  ruin,  as  Elisha  said  to  his 
afifrighted  servant :  "Fear  not :  for  they  that 
be  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  be  with 
them." 

The  sweet  memories  of  childhood  are  with 
them.  The  remembrance  of  the  Old  Home 
Life :  of  a  father's  prayers,  of  a  mother's  love, 

220 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

of  the  family  aUar,  of  the  old  family  Bible,  of 
the  Scripture  lessons  taught,  of  the  moral  prin- 
ciples inculcated,  of  the  religious  habits  once 
practiced,  of  the  worship  of  God  once  enjoyed  : 
the  remembrance  of  all  these  still  lingers  in 
the  young  man's  soul,  and,  in  temptation,  helps 
him  to  be  strong.  The  voice  of  Conscience  is 
with  him,  and,  in  the  midst  of  life's  moral 
conflicts,  rings  out  its  words  of  warning  and 
bids  him  bravely  stand.  His  Reason  and  sober 
Judgment  are  with  him  and  tell  him  not  to 
allow  his  own  undoing.  His  sense  of  self-re- 
spect is  with  him  and  pleads  with  him  to  scorn 
what  would  cost  him  his  own  self-degradation. 
His  early  habits  of  Christian  living  are  with 
him  and  hold  him  to  a  continuance  in  well 
doing.  ,His  training  and  education  are  with 
him :  the  many  high  moral  lessons  of  truthful- 
ness and  honesty  and  purity  and  righteousness 
and  morality  and  godliness  impressed  upon 
him  by  parents  and  pastors  and  teachers,  the 
many  influences  for  good  brought  by  them  to 
bear  upon  him  and  to  mould  his  character  : 
all  these  still  are  with  him.  The  interest  in 
him  of  multitudes  of  loving  friends,  concerned 

221 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

for  his  welfare,  desirous  for  his  success,  re- 
joicing in  his  nnsulhed  and  unstained  young 
manhood,  pained  if  he  should  fall,  following 
him  with  their  friendship,  giving  him  their 
confidence  and  love :  all  these,  also,  are  with 
him.  His  own  interest  in  himself,  or  consid- 
eration of  his  own  best  welfare :  regard  for 
his  health,  for  his  reputation,  for  the  esteem 
of  his  fellow  men,  for  his  prosperity  in  busi- 
ness or  trade,  for  his  good  standing  in  society, 
for  his  accumulation  of  wealth,  for  his  pro- 
motion to  places  of  honor  and  power  and  trust 
in  the  State  or  in  the  Church,  for  his  fame 
both  while  living  and  when  once  removed 
by  death,  for  his  happiness  here  and  his  sal- 
vation hereafter :  regard  for  his  own  best  in- 
terests in  all  these  respects  is  ever,  if  he  is 
thoughtful  of  himself  as  he  ought  to  be,  with 
him  inciting  him  to  the  right  and  checking 
and  restraining  him  from  the  wrong.  The 
Institutions  of  our  holy  Christian  Religion  are 
also  with  him :  the  Church,  the  Ministry,  the 
Preached  Word,  the  Sacraments,  the  Social 
Fellowship  of  Christian  People,  the  Bible,  the 
Christian  Press,  the  Lord's  Day,  the  Christian 

222 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

Home,  the  Christian  College  or  School :  all 
these  are  helps  and  allies  to  the  Young  Man 
to  strengthen  his  moral  character,  to  confirm 
him  in  sound  moral  principle,  to  develop  him 
in  strong  and  noble  Christian  Manhood.  And, 
finally,  best  of  all  God  is  with  him :  with  him 
by  His  Providence  to  guard  and  guide  him ; 
with  him  by  His  Spirit  to  sanctify,  comfort 
and  strengthen  him ;  with  him  by  His  Church 
to  instruct,  nourish,  keep  him;  with  him  by 
His  Son  to  redeem,  pardon,  bless  and  save  him. 
All  these  are  allies  of  the  young  man  in  his 
warfare  with  his  spiritual  foes,  in  his  resis- 
tance of  temptation,  in  his  battles  against  sin. 
He  does  not  stand  alone.  A  great  host  of 
spiritual  warriors  stand  around  him  and  fight 
for  him.  The  combined  power  of  all  that  is 
good  both  upon  earth  and  in  heaven  is  arrayed 
in  his  behalf.  All  the  saintly  in  the  Church 
below,  all  the  redeemed  in  the  Church  above, 
all  the  sympathy  of  Christ  who  died  for  him, 
all  the  omnipotence  and  pity  and  love  of  God 
his  Father  who  made  and  keeps  him,  all  are 
on  his  side  and  are  supporting  and  sustaining 
him. 

223 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

With  such  alii'  s  in  the  fight  is  not  the 
Christian  Young  Man  strong?  Was  not  the 
Apostle  right  in  his  estimate  of  such  when  he 
wrote:  "I  write  unto  you  young  men  because 
ye  are  strong" :  strong  in  the  strength  of  God, 
strong  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  strong 
in  a  moral  might  given  from  above  and  which 
makes  them  conquerors  and  more  than  con- 
querors through  Him  who  loved  them.  But 
only  such  are  strong.  Only  the  young  man 
who  thus  is  strong  in  God's  strength,  is  really 
strong,  is  strong  enough  to  stand  in  the  moral 
battle  which  he  must  wage.  His  own  strength, 
unhelped  by  God's  strength,  is  weakness.  His 
will  power,  his  best  resolutions,  his  firmest  pur- 
poses, will  all  prove  unable  to  resist  the  shock 
of  the  conflict.  Contending  alone  and  in  his 
own  strength  he  will  go  down  before  his  foes 
as  the  ship  goes  down  before  the  storm.  Hun- 
dreds and  thousands,  strong  as  any,  have  thus 
gone  down.  Alexander,  proudly  called  "the 
Great,"  and  who  was  also  great  as  men  es- 
teem greatness,  great  in  his  exploits,  in  his  suc- 
cess, in  his  achievements,  in  his  intellect  and 
will,  in  his  mastery  over  men,  in  his  military 
224 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government, 

genius,  who  with  his  mighty  armies  conquered 
the  world,  whom  neither  rapid  rivers,  nor 
rugged  mountains,  nor  opposing  nations,  nor 
countless  enemies,  could  discourage  nor  deter 
from  his  purpose  nor  overcome,  this  man,  so 
great,  who  having  conquered  the  world  sighed 
for  yet  other  worlds  to  conquer,  in  his  own 
strength  was  yet  unable  to  conquer  himself 
and  went  down  while  yet  a  young  man,  the 
slave  of  his  own  passions,  the  helpless  victim 
of  his  own  bad  habits.  And  thus  many  young 
men,  today,  strong  in  their  own  fancied 
strength,  go  down  as  moral  wrecks  into  the 
whirlpool  of  destruction.  I  wish  I  could  make 
every  young  man,  who  reads  this,  feel  deeply 
this  truth,  namely,  that  he  is  strong  morally 
only  as  God,  by  His  grace,  makes  him  strong. 
Divine  strength  is  alone  real  strength ;  and  is 
alone  sufficient  strength.  As  young  men  have 
that  are  they  strong,  and  then  only  are  they 
strong.  Only  when  they  have  God  as  their 
Friend,  and  Christ  as  their  Helper,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  as  Heart-guest,  and  the  Church  as 
their  Spiritual  Home,  and  the  People  of  God 
as  their  Companions,  and  the  Bible  as  their 
225 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Pilot  and  Compass,  only  then  will  they  safely 
make  the  voyage  of  life  here  and  enter,  at  last, 
in  triumph  "the  harhor  of  eternal  life  on  the 
other  shore." 

"I  can  be  my  own  pilot,"  was  recently  the 
haughty  answer  of  a  young  sea  captain,  when 
admonished  that  the  coast  was  dangerous  and 
that  he  should  signal  for  a  Pilot:  "I  can  be 
my  own  pilot."  He  was  his  own  Pilot.  But 
the  vessel  struck  the  rock,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing his  dead  body,  and  fragments  of  his  queen- 
ly ship,  and  remnants  of  his  costly  freight 
were  scattered  in  mockery,  as  it  were,  all  along 
the  surfy  shore  of  the  angry  sea.  He  was  his 
own  Pilot.  But  there  was  his  fatal  mistake. 
It  gratified,  for  a  moment,  his  vanity,  but,  in 
the  end,  it  cost  him  his  life.  Oh,  young  men, 
repeat  not  his  folly.  Seek  not  to  be  your  own 
Pilots  over  the  dangerous  Sea  of  Life.  It 
will  cost  you  your  soul.  Take  Christ  as  your 
Pilot.  In  prayer  throw  out,  this  moment,  a 
signal  of  distress.  Send  a  message  to  Heaven 
for  help.     Telegraph  to  the  skies  for  a  Pilot. 

Young  men,  this  is  the  strength  you  need. 
There  are  burdens  to  be  borne  through  life, 
226 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

our  own  and  others' ;  there  are  enemies  to  over- 
come, passions  to  subdue,  vices  to  uproot,  vir- 
tues to  implant,  services  to  execute,  work  to 
do — and  the  natural  man,  with  all  his  won- 
derful capacities  and  capabilities,  does  not  pos- 
sess the  strength  or  power  of  endurance  for 
such  undertakings.  Nevertheless,  the  old 
apostle  in  Patmos  furnishes  the  secret :  "Ye 
are  strong,  and  the  Word  of  God  Abideth  in 
you" — the  Word  of  God ;  the  written  Word, 
bearing  within  itself  Christ  the  Incarnate 
Word,  who  takes  up  His  abode  within  us.  In 
order,  then,  to  possess  strength,  Christ  must 
thus  enter  the  heart  and  find  lodgment  within. 
There  must  be  a  willing  surrender  of  the  cita- 
del of  Man's  soul  to  King  Emanuel.  Give 
Jesus,  then,  a  thrice  blessed  welcome.  Enter- 
tain this  Divine  Guest.  He  will  become  your 
Captain,  and  will  lead  you  forth  to  victory. 

When  Robert  Bruce  lay  dying  he  gave 
charge  to  the  black  Douglas  to  bury  his  heart 
in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  The 
brave  general,  in  obedience  to  the  dying  wishes 
of  his  king,  carried  in  a  silver  casket  hanging 
from  his  neck  the  embalmed  heart  of  Bruce, 
227 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

and  with  a  few  Scottish  cavaliers  set  out  for 
the  Holy  Land.  They  met  with  many  impedi- 
ments on  their  onward  march,  the  Moors  in 
Spain  being  especially  antagonistic.  On  one 
occasion  when  the  little  band  of  Scotchmen  be- 
held the  numbers  of  the  enemy  they  became 
demoralized  and  would  have  fled  from  the  foe ; 
but  Douglas,  taking  from  his  bosom  the  pre- 
cious relic,  threw  it  at  the  enemy,  and  grasping 
his  sword  with  renewed  energy  cried  to  the 
little  band,  "Scotchmen  fight  for  the  heart  of 
Bruce!"  ,The  word  thrilled  his  brave  follow- 
ers, who  charged  upon  the  Moors  and  drove 
them  from  the  field,  knowing  that  the  heart 
which  ever  throbbed  with  aflfection  for  them 
was  now  in  danger  of  being  trampled  under 
foot.  Though  inanimate  that  heart,  it  recalled 
heroic  deeds  of  the  great  Bruce  which  filled 
them  with  frenzy,  inflamed  them  with  renewed 
zeal  until  strengthened  they  went  forth  to  vic- 
tory. Soldiers  of  Christ,  your  inspiration  is 
far  higher,  nobler,  and  more  effective.  For 
not  the  embalmed  heart  of  our  glorious  Leader 
have  we  in  the  field,  but  His  living  presence. 
Hear  Him  declare,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway !" 
228 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Let  that  ringing  word  rally  all  around  His 
banner,  and  giving  the  enemy  no  quarter,  en- 
tering into  no  compromise  with  the  foe,  "fight 
the  good  fight  of  faith,  lay  hold  on  eternal 
life,"  and  win  for  yourselves  the  blessed 
plaudit,  "I  have  written  unto  you,  young  men, 
because  ye  are  strong,  and  the  Word  of  God 
abideth  in  you,  and  ye  have  overcome  the 
wicked  one."  ''Let  the  Word  of  Christ  dwell 
in  you  richly  in  all  wisdom,  speaking  to  your- 
selves in  psalms  and  hymns  and  spiritual  songs, 
singing  and  making  melody  in  your  hearts  to 
the  Lord,"  for  "the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your 
strength." 

Unsaved,  ungodly,  Christless  young  man, 
one  word  more  to  you.  Remember  that  "when 
we  were  yet  without  strength  Christ  died  for 
the  ungodly."  But  God  raised  Him  from  the 
dead,  and  through  Him  now  is  preached  unto 
you  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  everlasting  life. 
Yield  your  life  to  Him  who  is  your  best  Friend, 
then  shall  you  be  strong  in  battling  for  the 
Lord. 


229 


THE  RESURRECTION 
BODY. 

TEXT. 

"But  some  man  zvill  say,  How  arc  llic  dead  raised 
lip?  and  with  what  body  do  they  come?" — J  Corin- 
thians XV.  35. 

Our  text  is  a  question.  It  is  not  necessarily 
the  question  of  a  Sceptic  or  doubter.  It  may 
be  the  question  of  honest  search  after  Hght 
and  after  clearer  understanding  of  the  doc- 
trine in  connection  with  which  the  question  is 
asked. 

The  Apostle,  by  a  most  masterly  argument, 
had  established  the  great  truth  of  the  Resur- 
rection of  the  Body.  The  logic  he  employs 
in  his  argument  is  convincing;  the  conclusion 
is  irresistible,  and  the  fact  is  proven  beyond 
room  for  rational  doubt.  The  dead  shall  all 
again  be  restored  to  life,  and  shall  all  again 
rise.  There  will  be  a  Resurrection  of  the 
Bodies  of  the  dead. 

But,  whilst  thus  convinced,  by  irresistible 
argument,  of  the  fact  that  the  dead  shall  again 
rise,  the  manner  of  their  resurrection  is  still 
230 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

an  unsettled  question.  How  will  they  be  raised 
up?  With  what  kind  of  bodies  will  they,  in 
the  Resurrection  Morning,  come  forth?  Will 
the  body  that  rises  from  the  grave  be  the  same 
body  that  was  laid  in  the  grave?  In  what 
respects  will  our  present  bodies  and  our  future, 
or  resurrection,  bodies  be  alike?  In  what  re- 
spects will  they  differ?  If  the  same,  in  what 
will  consist  their  identity?  What  will  be  the 
character  of  our  future  or  resurrection  body 
contrasted  with  the  character  of  our  present 
body?  What  precisely  will  be  the  relation  of 
the  one  to  the  other?  Admitting  the  fact 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  how  will  they 
arise?  "But  some  man  will  say.  How  are  the 
dead  raised  up?  and  with  what  kind  of  body 
do  they  come?" 

We     would     first     maintain      that     the 

SAINTED  DEAD,  IN  THE  MORNING  OF  THE  RES- 
URRECTION, WILL  NOT  COME  IN  A  BODY 
WHICH  IS  LITERALLY  AND  ABSOLUTELY,  IN  ALL 
ITS  MATERIAL  PARTICLES.  PRECISELY  THE  SAME 
AS  THAT  WHICH  IN  BURIAL  WAS  LAID  AWAY 
IN  THE  GRAVE. 

231 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

It  is  evidently  erroneous  to  hold,  as  some 
do,  that  the  future  or  resurrection  body  shall 
be  composed  of  precisely  the  same  matter,  and 
in  precisely  the  same  quantities  and  same  pro- 
portions, as  compose  the  Christian's  present 
body.  Such  a  literal  or  material  theory  of  the 
Resurrection  is,  I  say,  evidently  erroneous  and 
untenable.  The  resurrection  body,  in  its  ma- 
terial composition,  will,  most  evidently,  not  be 
precisely  the  same  as  the  present  body,  that 
is,  the  same  matter  exactly,  and  no  other.  For, 
in  opposition  to  such  a  theory  as  this,  the  Scrip- 
tures expressly  declare  that  "flesh  and  blood" 
shall  not  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Be- 
sides, Science,  also,  well  asks :  "How  can 
possibly  the  body  ever  be  thus  literally  raised 
us?"  It  tells  us  that  in  a  man's  life-time  the 
matter  composing  his  body  is  so  constantly 
changing  that  every  seven  years  he  has  a  new 
body;  and,  hence,  pointing  to  a  man  who  has 
lived  to  be  seventy  years  old,  it  asks,  with  a 
sneer,  whether  the  matter  that  composed  this 
or  that  one  of  the  ten  bodies  which  were  each 
successively  here  his,  will  there  and  then  con- 
stitute his  resurrection  body  ?  Or,  it  points  us 
232 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

to  bodies  that  have  been  consumed  by  fire,  and 
their  ashes  scattered  by  the  winds  of  heaven 
over  the  face  of  the  earth ;  and  to  others  that 
have  been  eaten  by  wild  beasts  and,  as  food, 
have  helped  to  constitute  their  bodies,  or  been 
eaten  by  cannibals  and  have  been  assimilated 
and  entered  into  the  composition  of  other  hu- 
man bodies ;  and  to  still  others  that  have  been 
dissolved  on  battle  fields  and  enriched  the  soil, 
and  been  absorbed  by  the  roots  of  trees  and 
grasses  and  harvests  of  corn  and  wheat,  and 
have  been  changed  into  fruit  or  grain,  which 
were  eaten  by  man  or  beast,  and  thus  passes 
into  other  animal  systems  and,  as  muscle  or 
bone  or  blood,  become  part  again  of  some 
other  livmg  organization ;  science,  I  say,  hon- 
est, thoughtful  inquiry  upon  this  subject,  points 
to  all  these  facts  involving  considerations  con- 
cerning the  matter  which  now  composes  our 
bodies  and  it  well  asks :  How  can,  in  view  of 
these  facts,  there  ever  be  such  a  thing  as  a 
Resurrection  of  the  very  same  body  which  is 
laid  in  the  grave?  How  can  just  precisely  the 
matter  which  now  constitutes  my  body  also 
constitute  my  resurrection  body,  when  that 
233 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

matter  before  it  composed  my  body  was  pos- 
sibly part  of  some  other  human  body,  and  af- 
ter I  have  laid  it  aside,  and  it  is  dissolved  into 
air  and  gases  and  water  and  soil,  and,  changed 
into  some  other  form,  it  may  enter  into  the 
structure  of  a  dozen  or  a  hundred  other  hu- 
man bodies? 

And  those  are  hard  questions  to  answer.  You 
may,  I  know,  answer  them  by  simply  saying  to 
the  Objector :  "With  God  all  things  are  pos- 
sible. He  could  create  the  body  and  He  also 
can  re-create  it.  He  can  re-collect  the  scat- 
tered particles,  and  can  re-organize  them,  and 
can  re-construct  the  body  again  of  the  same 
particles  precisely  of  which  it  is  now  composed. 
Let  them  be  where  they  will,  at  His  bidding 
they  can  all  be  summoned  back  again,  and 
can  be  made  to  compose  the  same  form  exactly 
which  they  once  composed  when  the  body  was 
laid  in  the  grave."  "Yes,"  I  answer,  "that  is, 
I  suppose,  all  true.  God  has  all  power."  But 
in  this  case  it  is  not  a  question  of  mere  Divine 
Power:  it  is  a  question  simply  of  fact.  God 
can  do  all  that  He  wills  to  do,  and  all  that 
He  has  said  He  will  do.  And,  hence,  if  God 
234 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

anywhere  in  His  word  had  said  that  in  the 
Morning  of  the  Resurrection  He  would  raise 
up  from  the  grave  the  same  hody  precisely 
which  had  been  laid  away  in  the  grave,  that 
is  composed  of  the  very  same  particles  which 
now  compose  it,  He  also  could  do  it,  and  most 
surely  would  also  do  it.  And  then,  if  thus 
declared  in  the  word  of  God,  no  matter  how 
many  objections  might  by  human  science  or 
philosophy  be  made  to  it,  or  how  many  diffi- 
culties and  seeming  impossibilities  might  be 
advanced  against  it,  I  would  still  most  firmly 
believe  it,  and  we  all  would.  For  God's  word 
is  always  truth. 

But  happily  God's  Word  makes  no  such  tax 
upon  our  faith  as  all  that.  God's  Word  no- 
where teaches  that  our  Resurrection  Bodies 
will  thus  be  composed  of  the  same  precise  mat- 
ter which  now  composes  our  bodies,  or  which 
will  compose  them  when  at  our  death  they  are 
laid  away  in  the  grave.  Paul,  indeed,  in  an- 
swer to  this  question  of  our  text,  "With  what 
body  do  they  come?"  most  positively  asserts 
just  the  reverse.  To  the  Objector,  who  asks 
the  question,  and  who  assumes  that  if  the 
235 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

dead,  as  Paul  taught,  really  do  again  rise, 
then  they  must  also  rise  in  the  very  same  ma- 
terially composed  bodies  which  they  here  in- 
habited, and  which  were  here  buried,  says : 
"Thou  fool !  That  which  thou  sowest  is  not 
quickened  except  it  die;  and  that  which  thou 
sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  body  that  shall 
be,  but  bare  grain,  it  may  chance  of  wheat  or 
of  some  other  grain."  That  is :  "There  is  a 
difference  between  the  seed  sown  and  the  liv- 
ing plant  that  springs  from  that  seed.  You 
drop  into  the  earth,  he  means,  a  grain,  and 
•there  comes  up,  not  a  grain,  but  a  green,  liv- 
ing stalk  or  tree;  and  whilst  the  stalk  or  tree 
has,  indeed,  sprung  from  the  grain  which  you 
planted  or  sowed,  there  is  yet  not  a  particle 
of  that  grain  now  in  the  stalk  or  tree.  The 
matter  in  the  stalk  or  tree  is  all  matter  which, 
as  a  living  organism,  it  has,  through  its  roots 
and  leaves,  or  lungs,  absorbed  and  assimilated 
into  its  own  being  from  the  soil  and  air  and 
water  around  it ;  and  the  seed  from  which  it 
sprung  was  simply  the  germ  or  source  of  its 
life.  The  seed  sown  had  in  itself  a  hidden  and 
indestructible  life-force,  capable  of  assimi- 
236 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

lating  new  matter  and  of  clothing  itself 
with  a  new  and  more  beautiful  vegetable  body 
— that  is,  it  dissolved  and  died,  and  in  its  dis- 
solution and  death,  or  rather  by  its  dissolu- 
tion and  death,  this  life-force  was  set  at  lib- 
erty, and  sprung  into  activity,  and  ushered 
into  being  a  new  and  higher  form  of  life. 

"And  so,"  is  the  Apostle's  meaning,  "it  will 
also  be  with  the  Resurrection  Body.  It  will 
not  be  the  bare  grain  merely  of  the  body  that 
was  sown  or  buried  that  will  come  up,  but  it 
will  be  the  new  and  higher  organism  of  a  glo* 
rifled  body.  It  will  be  a  body  sprung  from  the 
old,  yet  not  the  old;  a  body  the  same  in  its 
identity,  yet  not  the  same  in  its  composition,  or 
in  its  component  material  quality." 

This,  then,  is  now  the  first  answer  to  the 
question  of  our  text:  "With  what  body  do 
they  come?"  namely,  They  come,  or  they  will 
arise,  not  in  bodies  composed  of  precisely  the 
same  matter,  and  in  the  same  organism,  as  now 
constitute  or  characterize  our  present  bodies, 
or  as  compose  the  body  when,  at  the  close  of 
our  earth-life,  it  is  laid  in  its  last  sleep  in  the 
grave.     But, 

237 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 
II.     Whilst  the  resurrection   body  of 

THE  SAINTS  WILL  THUS  NOT  BE,  LITERALLY 
AND  MATERIALLY,  JUST  PRECISELY  THE  SAME 
AS  THEIR  PRESENT  BODY,  THERE  WILL  STH.L 
BE  SUCH  AN  ORGANIC  AND  VITAL  CONNECTION 
BETWEEN  THE  TWO  THAT  THE  FUTURE  OR  RES- 
URRECTION BODY  WILL  RETAIN  AND  PER- 
PETUATE THE  IDENTITY  OF  THE  PRESENT  BODY. 

This  the  Apostle  here  clearly  teaches  by  his 
figure  of  the  seed  and  that  which  springs  from 
the  seed.  The  new  stalk  is  not,  it  is  true,  in 
substance  the  old  seed ;  and  yet  there  is,  as  all 
can  see,  a  vital  connection  between  the  stalk 
and  the  seed.  It  is  the  same  species.  It  pro- 
duces again  the  same  kind  of  seed,  and  not 
another  kind.  The  one  owes  its  being  to  the 
other,  and  is  really  the  perpetuation  of  the 
same  life  that  was  in  the  other;  so  that  how- 
ever unlike  in  form  and  appearance  the  seed 
and  the  stalk  that  grows  from  it  may  be,  there 
is  still  "identity,"  identity  of  species  and  or- 
der, identity  of  inward  being  and  onward  flow 
of  life. 

And  just  so  there  exists  "identity"  between 
238 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

the  Resurrection  Body  and  the  present  body 
that  is  laid  in  the  grave.     Our  present  body 
is  the  "grain."     The  Resurrection  body  is  the 
"stalk"  that  by  divine  power  is  made  to  grow 
up   out  of  this   grain.     The  grain   dies,   but 
there  is  in  that  dying  grain  an  invisible  and 
an  indestructible  germ  of  life  or  of  life-force, 
which  in  the  Morning  of  the  Resurrection,  at 
God's  bidding,  will  assume  to  itself  new  form 
—that  is,  the  form  of  its  future  or  resurrec- 
tion body,  just  as  the  seed,  in  dying,  gives 
up  its  old  form  of  a  seed  and  develops  into 
the  new  form  of  a  plant,  and  then,  in  that  new- 
form,  it  will  perpetuate  the  life  which  it  lived 
here,  in  its  present  form.     Thus  is  there  con- 
nection, and  thus  also  is  there  living  and  un- 
broken identity  between  our  present  and  our 
future  bodies.     They  are  different,  yet  they 
are  identical;  dift'erent  in  appearance,  in  per- 
fection, in  glory,  yet  identical  as  the  unbroken 
onward  flow  of  the  same  individual  existence 
or  personality.     "There  is  one  glory  of  the 
sun,  another  glory  of  the  moon,  and  another 
glory  of  the  stars,  for  one  star  dift'ereth  from 
another  star  in  glory ;"  "and  so,"  the  Apostle 
239 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

means  to  say,  "there  can  and  will  be  a  great 
difference  not  simply  between  Resurrection 
bodies  in  general,  but  also  in  each  individual 
case,  between  the  old  body  and  the  new,  and 
yet  their  identity  remains.  "So,"  is  his  lan- 
guage, "is  the  Resurrection  of  the  dead." 

Besides,  do  we  not  find  analogies  of  this  very 
thing,  of  this  preservation,  I  mean,  of  identity 
amid  change  and  transformation  in  the  insect 
and  animal  creation  all  around  us?  Look  at 
the  moth,  the  caterpillar,  the  locust.  In  the 
case  of  each,  when  a  transition  from  one  mode 
of  life  to  another  is  to  take  place,  the  germs  or 
the  embryo  organism  of  the  future  or  coming 
being  are  wrapped  up  in  the  organization  of 
the  present  being,  so  that  whilst  in  the  transi- 
tion something  of  the  old  is  left  behind,  and 
much  is  gained  in  the  new,  yet  the  identity  of 
the  being  remains  unbroken  through  every 
stage  of  the  transformation. 

And  so  with  us.  The  germ  of  our  future 
Resurrection  body  is,  in  some  mysterious  way 
wrapped  up  and  hid  away  in  our  present  body, 
as  the  body  of  the  oak  is  hid  away  in  the  acorn, 
or  the  body  of  the  butterfly  is  hid  away  in  the 
240 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

caterpillar,  or  the  body  of  the  stalk  is  hid 
away  in  the  seed  or  grain,  or  the  beauty  and 
fragrance  of  the  flower  is  hid  away  in  the 
root  or  bulb.  The  one  gives  being  to  the 
other.  The  life  in  the  one,  after  sleeping  in 
the  grave,  awakes  and  perpetuates  itself  in 
the  other. 

But  the  question  may  here  be  asked  :  If 
the  Resurrection  body  is  so  different  from  the 
present  body,  if  it  only  comes  up  from  the 
present  body  and  yet  is  not  fully  the  present 
body  itself,  how,  then,  will  we  ourselves,  or 
how  will  others,  be  able  to  recognize  the  Res- 
urrection body  as  being,  indeed,  the  same 
body  that  we  here  inhabited?  How  will  we 
assuredly  know  and  feel  that  the  body  into 
which  my  soul  shall  then  enter,  is,  indeed, 
my  old  body?  Will  it  not  possibly  be  so  en- 
tirely dift"erent  that  it  will  virtually  be  to  me 
an  entirely  new  and  strange  body? 

To  this  question  I  answer:  No.  How  the 
consciousness  of  bodily  identity  will  be  se- 
cured, I  do  not  know.  But  my  body  then  will 
most  clearly  be  seen  to  be  the  same  body 
which  is  my  body  now.  Of  this  God's  Word 
241 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

assures  me.  Paul,  here  in  the  context,  says : 
"God  giveth  it  a  hody  as  it  hath  pleased  Him, 
and  to  every  seed  his  own  body."  The  im- 
plied argument  of  which  is  that  in  some  sense 
the  same  body  which  we  had  before  we  shall 
have  then.  To  each  one  will  be  given  "his 
own  body."  There  will  be  identity.  It  will 
be  his  own  body. 

And  hence,  also,  our  Saviour,  after  His  Res- 
urrection, appeared  to  the  disciples  in  a 
"form"  or  "body"  which,  whilst  glorified  and 
greatly  changed,  yet  presented  so  fully  the 
same  outward  appearance  as  that  in  which 
He  had  dwelt  among  them  before  His  death 
that  they  were  enabled  to  recognize  Him,  and 
to  be  assured  that  it  was  really  He  with  whom 
they  had  before,  as  Master  and  disciples,  been 
associated. 

Our  Resurrection  body  then,  whatever  it 
may  in  itself  exactly  be,  and  however  differ- 
ent from  and  superior  to  our  present  body  it 
undoubtedly  then  will  be,  will  yet  in  some 
way  be  identical  with  our  present  body,  and 
will  so  far  retain  the  appearance  and  individ- 
uality of  our  present  body  that  in  that  future 
242 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Resurrection  body  we  will  easily  be  recog- 
nized by  those  who  knew  us,  and  will  be 
known  as  the  same  distinct  personalities 
which  we  are  now  known  to  be  in  our  present 
body. 

But,  if  now  we  inquire  yet  more  closely  into 
the  exact  Character  of  the  Resurrection  body 
and  seek  to  give,  if  possible,  a  still  more  defin- 
ite answer  to  the  question  of  the  text:  With 
what  body  do  they  come?  then  we  have  only 
to  notice  yet  more  carefully : 

III.  The  apostolic  description  here  in 

THE  context  of  WHAT  OUR  RESURRECTION 
BODY  SHALL  BE. 

Two  things  concerning  it  he  states  very 
emphatically.     He  tells  us  : 

(a.)  That  it  will  be  such  a  body  as  it  may 
please  God  in  the  Resurrection  to  give  us. 
"God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  Him." 

Nowhere  around  us  can  we  discover  such 
a  thing  as  naked  life.  It  is  always  incorporate 
or  embodied  life.  And  He  who  has  thus  given 
body  to  life  is  God.  The  form  of  the  human 
body  for  the  habitation  of  the  human  life,  the 
243 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

form  of  irrational  animals  for  mere  animal 
life,  and  of  insects  for  insect  life,  and  of  plants 
for  plant  life,  all  these  are  His  materialized 
conceptions  or  creations.  To  each  of  these 
special  kinds  of  life  He  has  given  a  body  as 
it  hath  pleased  Him,  and  as  the  special  life 
in  each  required.  And  so,  also,  in  the  Resur- 
rection, the  Apostle  assures  us,  God  will  give 
to  each  of  us  a  Resurrection  body  as  will 
please  Him — that  is^  such  a  body  as  He  in  His 
infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence  will  choose 
for  us  as  suited  to  the  new,  celestial  and 
glorious  heavenly  life  to  which  we  shall  then 
be  exalted.  "God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath 
pleased  Him."  A  body  so  beautiful,  so  radi- 
ant, so  perfect,  so  capable,  so  glorious,  so  im- 
mortal, and  so  adapted  to  be  the  home  of  the 
redeemed  immortal  soul,  that  it  will  please 
Him,  and  that  He  can  again,  as  at  first,  in 
Eden,  in  strictest  truth,  pronounce  it  "good." 

But  in  answer  to  the  question :  "With  what 
body  do  they  come?"  the  Apostle  presents 
also, 

(b.)  Some  points  of  contrast  between  the 
Resurrection  bodies  which  we  shall  then  have 
-M4 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

and  our  present  bodies,  and  he  shows  that  our 
Resurrection  bodies  will  be  infinitely  superior 
in  every  possible  respect  to  our  present  bodies. 
Our  present  body,  he  notices  first,  "is  sown 
in  corruption ;"  but  our  future  body,  he  de- 
clares, ""'shall  be  raised  in  incorruption." 
"Sown  in  corruption."  How  true !  The 
'"Corruption"  begins  with  the  very  beginning 
of  our  bodily  life.  Paul  says,  "I  die  daily." 
What  toil,  what  care,  what  sickness,  what  suf- 
fering, what  infirmities,  what  decay,  what 
dissolution  finally  in  the  tomb,  make  up  the 
experience  here  of  the  body !  But  how  dif- 
ferent it  will  be  with  the  Resurrection  body ! 
The  Apostle  says:  "It  shall  be  raised  in  in- 
corruption." Every  sign  or  tendency  to  im- 
perfection will  then  be  forever  gone.  No  pain, 
no  sickness,  no  death.  Elasticity  in  every 
limb,  health  on  every  cheek,  joy  in  every  eye. 

"No  chilling  winds,  nor  poisonous  breath. 

Can  reach  that  happy  shore ; 
Sickness,  and  sorrow,  pain  and  death, 

Are  felt  and  feared  no  more." 

Blessed  Hope !     Death,  with  all  its  sad  and 
painful  preliminaries,  shall  then  be  known  no 
245 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

I 

more.  Glorified  the  body  shall  then  stand 
forth  in  the  glow  and  bloom  and  beauty  of 
eternal  youth.  We  shall  all  then,  as  disci- 
ples of  Christ,  be  changed.  This  corruptible 
will  then  put  on  incorruption ;  and  this  mortal, 
or  this  present  death-tendency  in  us,  will  then 
put  on  immortality.  ''So  when  this  corrupti- 
ble shall  have  put  on  incorruption,  and  this 
mortal  shall  have  put  on  immortality,  then 
shall  be  brought  to  pass  the  saying  that  is 
written.  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory.  O 
Death,  where  is  thy  sting?  O  Grave,  where 
is  thy  victory?" 

Again,  however,  in  his  exhibit  of  this  con- 
trast between  our  present  and  future  bodies, 
the  Apostle  says,  concerning  the  present  body  : 
"It  is  sown  in  dishonor,"  but  concerning  the 
future  body,  "it  is  raised  in  glory."  It  goes 
down  to  the  grave  dishonored :  dishonored  by 
the  touch  and  blight  of  sin ;  dishonored  by 
all  the  destroying  consequences  of  sin ;  a  prey 
to  the  spoiler  Death.  But  "it  shall  be  raised 
in  glory."  "Jesus  shall  change  our  vile  body 
that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  His  glorious 
body." 

246 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

What  a  contrast !  What  a  comfort !  All 
the  imperfections  and  blemishes  and  defects 
of  the  present  body  gone.  All  the  curse  of 
the  fall  which  has  fallen  on  the  body  eternally 
lifted.  And,  instead  of  all  these,  there  will 
then  in  our  bodies  be  the  beauty,  the  faultless- 
ness,  the  perfection,  the  symmetry,  the  sun- 
like radiance  and  effulgence,  the  glory  even 
of  the  body  of  the  Saviour  Himself  as  it  once 
appeared  on  "the  Mount  of  Transfiguration," 
or  as  it  even  now  appears  seated  upon  the 
Throne  of  Heavenly  Royalty.  "For  we  shall 
be  like  Him." 

But  more.  The  Apostle  also  further  says, 
concerning  our  present  body,  "It  is  sown  in 
weakness;"  but  concerning  the  future  body 
he  says,  "it  is  raised  in  power."  It  goes  down 
steadily  already  in  weakness,  as  the  years  go 
by,  under  the  burdens  and  sicknesses  and 
struggles  of  life ;  and  goes  down,  at  last,  in 
utter  weakness  into  the  grave,  conquered  by 
death.  But  how  gloriously  it  is  raised.  "It 
is  raised,"  says  the  Apostle,  "in  power:"  in 
power  over  Death ;  in  power  over  sin ;  in  pow- 
er over  all  the  Christian's  Spiritual  Foes;  in 
247 


Joy  in  ihe  Divine  Government. 

power  over  all  Physical  Weariness  ;  in  power 
to  pass  on  errands  of  God  from  world  to 
world ;  in  power  without  cessation  to  live, 
and  labor,  and  love,  and  worship  forever 
around  the  throne  of  God. 

But,  once  more,  concerning  our  present  body 
he  says :  "It  is  sown  a  natural  body" — that  is, 
an  animal,  an  earthly  body,  adapted  to  ma- 
terial surroundings,  itself  material,  and  need- 
ing material  food  to  sustain  it ;  but  it  shall, 
he  declares,  "be  raised  a  spiritual  body" — that 
is,  a  body  which  will  consist  of  the  most  re- 
fined and  purified  substance ;  "matter,"  but 
transparent-etherealized  matter;  "matter,"  but 
matter  spiritualized  in  its  character;  "matter," 
but  matter  approaching  the  nature  of  spirit ; 
"matter,"  but  matter  sublimated  and  elevated 
above  the  laws  and  conditions  which  now 
govern  our  material  bodies.  "It  is  raised  a 
spiritual  body:"  a  body,  but  a  body  of  spirit 
or  a  body  resembling  spirit.  Amazing  para- 
dox! I  speak,  I  know,  of  a  great  "mystery." 
I  do  not  understand  it.  But  I  speak  a  great 
and  most  precious  revealed  fact.  Our  future 
Resurrection  bodies  shall  be  glorious,  Spirit- 
248 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ual  Bodies,  infinitely  superior  in  all  respects  to 
our  present  bodies,  incorruptible  instead  of 
corruptible,  perfect  instead  of  imperfect, 
strong  instead  of  weak,  immortal  instead  of 
mortal,  spiritual  instead  of  material,  glorious 
like  Christ's  own  body,  instead  of  inglorious 
and  dishonorable  as  now  under  the  ruin  of  sin 
and  the  law  of  Death. 

Disciples  of  Christ,  great  is  the  bodily  exal- 
tation that  awaits  you.  Surely,  "it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be."  Not  our  Spirits 
only,  but  also  our  Bodies  shall  be  gloriously 
redeemed  from  sin.  These  poor,  suffering 
bodies  of  ours,  shall  also  through  the  redemp- 
tive power  of  our  Divine  Lord,  be  perfectly 
delivered  and  glorified. 

Let  this  be  our  Comfort.  Let  this  be  our 
hope.  Body,  soul  and  spirit,  our  whole  being, 
will  be  glorified  in  the  Day  of  His  Coming. 
Rejoice  in  this  blessed  truth  when  you  go  to 
your  grave,  and  rejoice  in  it  for  all  your  loved 
ones  who  now  sleep  there  in  Jesus. 


249 


THE    CHARACTER   OF   THE 
LORD'S  SUPPER. 

A  Synodical  Communion  Sermon. 
TEXT. 

"The  cup  of  blessing  which  tec  bless,  is  it  not  the 
communion  of  the  blood  of  Christ?  The  bread 
which  we  break,  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the 
body  of  Christ?" — 1  Corinthians  .v.  16. 

Tlie  Apostle,  in  this  language  of  our  text, 
presents  to  our  attention  the  Nature  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  declaring  it  to  be  a  ''Com- 
munion" :  a  communion  or  a  partaking  in  the 
bread  which  we  eat,  and  in  the  wine  which 
we  drink,  "of  the  Body  and  of  the  Blood  of 
Christ." 

This,  of  course,  is  a  great  "mystery."  We 
know  not  how  it  can  be.  The  Scriptures  do 
not  tell  us  how  Christ  is  present  in  this  Holy 
Sacrament.  Here  and  elsewhere  they  simply 
state  the  fact  of  this  Real  Presence  of  Christ 
in  the  Supper.  The  mode  or  manner  of  it 
they  do  not  state.  That  fact,  therefore,  wheth- 
er we  can  understand  it  or  not,  we  must  either 
250 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

accept  by  faith  on  the  statement  of  it  in  God's 
word,  or,  because  we  cannot  understand  it, 
assume  the  responsibihty  to  deny  and  reject 
it. 

This  Holy  Supper  is  the  "Farewell  Sacra- 
ment" of  our  Ascended  Saviour :  His  almost 
last  act  before  His  Passion  and  Death  as  a 
Sacrifice  for  our  Sins.  Its  institution  oc- 
curred under  the  most  tender  and  solemn  pos- 
sible circumstances.  The  Saviour's  life-work, 
upon  earth,  was  almost  finished ;  His  ministry 
of  teaching  and  of  revelation  to  man  of  the 
will  and  purposes  of  God  was  fast  drawing 
to  a  close;  and  His  feet  were  trembling,  as  it 
were,  upon  the  threshold  of  the  door  opening 
out  before  Him  to  Gethsemane  and  to  Cal- 
vary. Only  a  few  hours  more,  and  He  would 
be  in  the  hands  of  His  enemies;  and,  as  man's 
Substitute,  He  would  be  enduring  the  curse 
of  the  broken  divine  law,  and  would  be  drink- 
ing the  bitter  cup  of  divine  wrath  for  human 
guilt. 

Under  such  circumstances,  and  in  that  sol- 
emn hour,  gathering  His  disciples  around  Him, 
He  instituted  this  Blessed  "Sacrament."     The 

251 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

holy  Evangehsts,  Alatthcw,  Mark  and  Luke ; 
together  with  the  holy  Apostle,  St.  Paul,  all 
note  this  feature  of  the  specially  solemn  lime 
and  tender  circumstances  of  its  institution ;  as 
if  desirous  thus  to  emphasize  its  sacredness, 
and  to  impress  us  with  its  preciousness  and 
tenderness,  and  all  of  them  using  the  same  lan- 
guage, saying:  "Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in 
the  night  in  which  He  was  betrayed,"  as  His 
farewell  act,  and  as  His  last  act  of  love  be- 
fore going  to  the  cross,  "took  bread,  and  when 
He  had  given  thanks  He  brake  it,  and  gave  it 
unto  His  disciples,  saying:  Take,  eat,  this  is 
my  body  which  is  given  for  you :  Do  this  in 
remembrance  of  me.  Likewise,  after  the  Sup- 
per, He  took  the  cup,  gave  thanks,  and  gave 
it  to  them,  saying :  Drink  ye  all  of  this ;  this 
cup  is  the  New  Testament  in  my  blood,  which 
is  shed  for  you  and  for  many  for  the  remis- 
sion of  sins  :  Do  this,  as  often  as  ye  drink 
it,  in  remembrance  of  me." 

This  Sacrament  was  instituted,  we  are  there- 
fore here  taught,  as  a  Commemorative  Ordi- 
nance,  as    a    Memorial    Sacrament.       Jesus 
wished   to  be   remembered   by   His   disciples. 
252 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

He  did  not  want  to  be  forgotten  by  them  when 
once  out  of  their  sight.  "Do  this,"  He  says, 
"in  remembrance  of  me";  meaning  by  these 
words :  "I  am  about  to  be  withdrawn  in  vis- 
ible bodily  form  from  you  ;  you  will  see  and 
hear  me  no  more ;  the  old  relation  which  has 
subsisted  between  us  in  the  flesh  is  now  about 
to  be  terminated ;  but  when  I  am  gone,  I  do 
not  want  to  be  forgotten,  I  want  you  still  to 
think  of  me,  to  bear  me  tenderly  and  lovingly 
in  your  mind  and  heart,  to  remember  what 
I  was  to  you  while  I  was  here  with  you ;  what 
I  have  spoken  to  you;  how  I  love  you;  how 
I  even  at  last  died  for  you  upon  the  cross.  In 
a  word,  this  conmiand :  "Do  this  in  remem- 
brance of  me,"  was  a  tender  appeal  to  His 
disciples  to  be  cherished  in  their  memory  when 
once,  after  His  death  and  ascension.  He  would 
visibly  be  no  longer  with  them. 

There  is  a  revelation  in  all  this  of  the  true 
humanity  of  Christ.  For  how  genuinely  hu- 
man is  this  desire  to  be  remembered  by  our 
friends  when  once  we  are  gone ! 

And,  in  compliance  with  His  wish,  Christ, 
in  this  Sacrament,  has  also  been  remembered. 
253 


Joy  in  the  Di\ine  Government. 

This  Sacrament,  thus  instituted  "in  the  night 
of  His  betrayal"  by  our  Saviour,  in  order  that 
He  might  be  remembered,  has  been  sacredly 
observed  by  the  Church,  in  obedience  to  her 
Lord's  command,  in  all  ages  and  lands,  ever 
since.  Doctrinal  differences  concerning  it, 
almost  without  number,  have  marked,  and 
alas !  have  also  divided  the  Church  in  all  her 
history ;  and  the  followers  of  Christ,  even  now 
yet,  see  not  "eye  to  eye"  with  regard  to  its 
content  or  essential  nature.  But,  to  all,  it  is 
still  a  precious  "Sacrament,"  and  is  observed, 
with  rare  exceptions,  by  all  who  profess  His 
name,  in  obedience  to  the  command  of  their 
one  common  Lord.  In  her  past  history  the 
Church  has  been  driven  by  the  cruel  hand  of 
persecution  out  into  the  wilderness,  and  has 
been  compelled  to  hide  herself  in  dens  and 
caves  of  the  earth,  in  catacomb  and  forest  and 
field ;  has  been  homeless  ,and  shelterless ;  has 
been  without  sanctuary  or  altar ;  and  yet  always 
even  in  her  darkest  days  has  she  heeded  this 
command  of  her  dying  Lord,  and,  in  her 
use  of  this  holy  Sacrament  has  honored  Him 
254 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

as  her  Saviour,  and  has  fed  upon  Him  as  her 
Hving  bread. 

And  thus  she  is  today  still  doing.  In  Prot- 
estant, in  Greek,  and  in  Roman  Catholic 
branches  of  the  Christian  Church,  on  continent 
and  island  of  the  sea,  in  Gospel  and  in  heathen 
lands,  wherever  Christ  anywhere  has  those  that 
love  and  fear  Him,  there  also,  in  some  form, 
and  with  some  approach  of  fidelity  to  its  right 
apprehension  and  use,  seeking  her  Lord  in 
it,  and  striving  by  its  observance  to  honor  Him, 
the  Church,  today,  as  ever  since  the  night  of 
its  institution,  observes  this  Sacrament  of  the 
Altar. 

And  thus,  also,  will  she  observe  it  to  the 
very  end  of  time.  For  always  will  Christ  have 
a  church  in  the  world,  and  always,  until  time 
shall  be  no  more,  will  that  Church  also  honor 
her  Lord  by  the  use  of  His  parting  sacra- 
ment; as  the  Apostle  teaches,  when  he  says, 
"As  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread,  and  drink  this 
cup,  ye  do  show  the  Lord's  death  till  He 
come." 

And  may  it  not  be  that  even  in  the  life 
eternal,  in  the  Church  redeemed  and  triumph- 
255 


Joy  in  tlic  Divine  Government. 

ant  above,  when  once  the  saints  of  all  ages, 
and  of  all  lands,  shall  be  gathered  into  the 
one  General  Assembly  and  Clmrcli  of  the  First 
Born  on  high,  may  it  not  be  that  even  there 
and  then  it  still  will,  in  some  form,  be  eter- 
nally observed?  Most  probably  it  will  be. 
As  a  remembrance  of  Calvary,  as  an  eternal 
medinm  of  Communion  with  Christ,  and  of 
feasting  upon  Him,  even  in  His  immediate  and 
glorified  presence,  it  is  probable  that  this  Holy 
Sacrament  will  still  be  observed.  "Verily  I 
say  unto  you,  I  will  drink  no  more  of  the 
fruit  of  the  vine  until  that  day  that  I  drink 
it  new  in  the  Kingdom  of  God."  "They  shall 
hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more ; 
for  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them 
unto  living  fountains  of  waters."  How  in- 
spiring the  thought. 

In  its  moral  and  spiritual  influences  and 
benefits  this  Holy  Sacrament  is  incalculably 
precious.  It  is  a  full  rich  "channel  of  grace" 
to  the  believing  soul ;  a  divinely  established 
medium  in  which  Christ  Himself  is  received  as 
-'56 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

a  savor  of  life  unto  life  by  all  those  who  come, 
in  true  spiritual  worthiness,  to  it. 

I.  There  is  no  other  ordinance  which  brings 
so  vividly  before  us,  as  does  this,  the  great 
central  fact  of  our  Saviour's  atoning  death  for 
us  upon  Calvary.  Regarding  it  still  as  a  mere- 
ly commemorative  ordinance,  it  points  us  back 
to  Golgotha ;  reveals  to  us  the  Cross ;  tells  us 
of  atonement,  of  vicariousness,  of  substitution  ; 
speaks  to  us  of  Christ,  the  innocent  One,  dying 
for  us,  the  guilty  ones;  pictures  to  us  our  re- 
demption, not  with  silver  and  gold,  but  with 
the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb 
without  blemish  and  without  spot.  Using  the 
Apostle's  language,  we  may  say  that  Christ, 
in  this  Sacrament,  is  evidently  set  forth,  cru- 
cified before  us.  The  broken  bread  speaks  to 
us  of  his  broken  body.  The  cup,  with  its  crim- 
son contents,  tells  us  of  His  Blood :  "the  blood 
of  the  New  Testament  which  is  shed  for  many 
for  the  remission  of  sins." 

All  this  is,  indeed,  most  precious  truth;  the 

very  core  and  heart  of  the  Gospel ;   so  that 

every  time  we  come  to  the  Lord's  Table  we 

come  also,  as  it  were  anew  to  our  Lord's  Cross. 

257 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

And  we  all,  in  this  day,  need  as  Christians, 
to  emphasize  to  our  faith  this  old  Gospel  fact. 
Much  of  our  modern  theology  is  tainted  with 
unsoundness  of  this  vital  fact.  "The  Cross," 
now,  as  of  old,  is  to  many  an  "offence."  With 
many  there  is  but  a  feeble  apprehension  of 
human  sinfulness,  of  man's  guilt  before  God 
as  a  sinner,  and  of  his  need  of  a  Saviour ;  and 
hence,  there  is  also  a  corresponding  tendency  to 
lower,  and  even  to  ignore  entirely,  the  atoning 
nature  of  the  death  of  Christ ;  to  spurn  what 
they  scornfully  call  "blood  theology,"  as  the 
true  solution  of  the  mystery  of  that  Death. 

But,  reject  it  who  will,  it  still  remains  true, 
and  will  abide  eternally  true,  that  we  are  saved 
"by  the  Blood";  that  the  "cross"  is  the  foun- 
tain of  our  salvation ;  that  Christ,  by  His  death 
in  our  stead,  and  as  a  Sacrifice  for  our  sins, 
saved  us  from  death ;  in  a  word,  that  the 
"Atonement"  is  a  precious  central  fact:  the 
pivotal  fact  in  the  whole  amazing  divine  scheme 
of  human  redemption.  "Having  made  peace," 
says  the  Apostle,  "through  the  Blood  of  His 
Cross."  "Neither  by  the  blood  of  goats  and 
calves,  but  by  His  own  blood,  He  entered  in 
258 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

once  into  the  Holy  Place,  having  obtained 
eternal  redemption  for  us;"  "And  they  sung 
a  new  song,  saying :  Thou  art  worthy  to  take 
the  book,  and  to  open  the  seals  thereof,  for 
thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God 
by  Thy  blood  out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue 
and  people,  and  nation." 

Hold  fast,  then,  my  brethren,  as  the  central 
fact  of  redemption,  to  the  atoning  character  of 
the  death  of  Christ.  Regard  it,  now  and  al- 
ways, as  a  most  precious  divine  verity.  Em- 
phasize the  Cross.  Make  much  of  the  Blood 
of  Christ.  Keep  on  singing,  as  from  childhood 
you  have  sung: 

"There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood. 
Drawn  from  Immanuel's  veins ; 

And  sinners,  plunged  beneath  that  flood. 
Lose  all  their  guilty  stains." 

This  law  or  principle  of  Vicariousness  ex- 
ists, indeed,  everywhere  under  God's  moral  and 
providential  Government.  The  most  common 
experience  in  common  life  is  vicarious  pain. 
In  the  home,  society,  the  state,  we  continually 
see  one  person  bearing  the  suffering  due  to 
259 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

another.  Luthardt  says,  "Love  is,  in  its  na- 
ture, substitutionary."  Parents  bear  their 
children's  burdens;  one  friend  takes  another's 
pain. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  vicarious  suflFering 
is  not  just  or  equitable.  Objection  is  made 
that  the  "innocent  cannot  in  fairness,  bear  the 
punishment  of  the  guilty."  True,  if  the  suf- 
ferer receives  no  adequate  compensation.  But 
Christ  was  rewarded.  "He  saw  of  the  travail 
of  His  soul  and  was  satisfied."  True,  if  there 
was  unwillingness  on  the  part  of  either  party 
to  the  transaction.  But  there  is  none  here. 
Christ  is  willing  to  suffer ;  God  is  willing  that 
Christ  should  suffer ;  and  if,  now,  the  sinner  is 
willing  that  God  should  save  him  through  the 
suffering  of  Christ,  who  shall  offer  objection? 

,It  is  also  said  that  this  view  of  the  atone- 
ment encourages  a  continuance  in  sin.  Just  the 
reverse  is  true.  Paul  answers  that  objection  in 
Romans  vi.  1-4. 

Believe  it,  then,  and  rest  your  trust  for  sal- 
vation solidly  on  it.  Let  it  be  a  blessed  reality 
in  the  grasp  of  your  faith  here,  to-day.  The 
design  of  this  Holy  Supper  is  to  give  it  such 
260 


]o\T  in  the  Divine  Government. 

reality  to  your  faith,  and  to  make  the  death 
of  your  Saviour  as  a  High-Priestly  and  Sacri- 
ficial act  stand  out  before  the  vision  of  your 
soul  in  all  possible  clearness,  and  fulness,  and 
joy. 

II.  This  blessed  Sacrament  is,  however,  to 
us  as  believers  and  disciples  of  Christ,  infinitely 
more  than  merely  thus  commemorative  of  His 
death.  It  communicates,  as  well  as  commem- 
orates. It  brings  to  us  a  present  Christ,  with 
all  the  treasures  of  His  saving  grace,  as  well 
as  reminds  us  of  the  historic  Christ  that  once 
was :  the  Christ  who  once  in  the  past  lived, 
and  then  died  for  us  upon  the  Cross.  It  pre- 
sents to  us  a  Saviour  living  now,  actually  now 
present  with  us  in  this  Holy  Sacrament,  giving 
Himself  to  us  now,  as  once  upon  Calvary,  eigh- 
teen hundred  years  ago.  He  gave  Himself  for 
us. 

The  blessings  which  Christ  here,  in  this 
Holy  Sacrament,  in  and  with  Himself,  bestows 
upon  us,  as  His  believing  disciples,  are  both 
many  and  precious.  He  here  brings  us  indeed 
into  His  banqueting  chamber  and  His  banner 
over  us  is  "Love." 

261 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Here  at  our  Saviour's  Table,  we,  as  Chris- 
tians, have,  first  of  all,  the  blessed  assurance 
and  joy  of  the  full  pardon  of  all  our  sins. 

"Calvary"  was,  as  we  have  seen,  an  atone- 
ment for  sin.  Whose?  "Mine,"  says  the  be- 
liever, as  he  stands  at  the  Table  of  his  cru- 
cified Lord,  "Mine."  He  here  hears  the  Saviour 
say  to  him:  "Take,  eat,  this  is  My  body 
which  is  broken  for  you."  "This  cup  is  the 
New  Testament  in  My  blood  which  is  shed 
for  you."  "For  you."  "For  me?"  cries  the 
believer.  "Yes,"  says  the  Divine  Word,  "for 
you."  "Thank  God,"  his  faith  now  exclaims, 
"it  was  for  me."  "He  loved  me  and  gave 
Himself  for  me ;  my  Lord  and  my  God ;  O 
Christ,  I  accept  the  work  which  Thou  didst 
there  thus  accomplish  for  me,  and  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  now  in  the  Word,  offers  to  me; 
trusting  that  word,  word  sure  as  God  Himself, 
word  divine  which  can  never  be  broken,  I 
know  I  am  pardoned,  justified,  saved." 

"My  soul  looks  back  to  see 
The  burden  Thou  didst  bear 

When  hanging  on  the  cursed  tree. 
And  knows  her  guilt  was  there." 
262 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

And  thus,  by  simple  faith  in  the  Word  of 
Christ,  spoken  in  the  institution  of  this  Holy 
Sacrament,  the  believing  communicant  has  the 
assurance  and  joy  as  he  partakes  of  it  that 
he  is,  indeed,  a  pardoned  and  saved  sinner. 

But,  here  at  the  Lord's  Table,  we  have, 
also,  as  Christians,  not  only  the  deepest  appre- 
hensions of  the  greatness  of  Christ's  love  for 
us,  but  also  the  warmest  quickening  of  our 
love  to  Him. 

At  no  other  time  does  the  infinite  largeness 
of  the  love  of  Christ  for  us  sinners  so  impress 
us  as  here  at  His  Table.  How  eloquent  of 
divine  love  this  holy  ordinance  is  !  How  touch- 
ingly  it  shows  us,  as  it  were,  the  very  heart 
of  God !  That  death  of  Christ  on  Calvary, 
which  the  Lord's  Supper  exhibits,  was,  indeed, 
the  highest  possible  expression  of  the  infinite 
love.  So  the  Scriptures  always  express  it. 
"God  so  loved  the  world  that  He  gave  His 
Only-Begotten  Son."  Christ,  "having  loved 
His  own,  which  were  in  the  world,  loved  them 
even  unto  the  end."  "Greater  love  hath  no 
man  than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life 
for  his  friend,  but  God  commendeth  His  love 
263 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

toward  us  in  that  while  we  were  yet  sinners, 
Christ  died  for  us."  Thus  was  infinite,  unmer- 
ited, divine  love  the  inspiration  of  that  death 
on  Calvary  of  Christ  Jesus  for  us.  And  now 
that  "love"  this  "Holy  Supper,"  as  in  a  pic- 
ture or  object  lesson,  reveals  before  us.  Faith 
sees  it.  And  as  it  is  thus  looked  at  by  faith 
through  these  broken  emblems  the  Holy  Spirit 
whispers  to  the  soul  of  the  believer :  "It  was 
thee  whom  He  thus  loved  unto  death;  it  was 
for  thy  salvation  that  He  thus  bowed  Himself 
in  the  bitterness  of  all  that  dreadful  agony : 

For  love  of  thee  He  bled, 

And  all  in  torture  died; 
'Twas  love  for  thee  that  bowed  His  head, 

And  oped  his  gushing  side. 

And  this  revelation  to  us  in  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per of  Christ's  love  for  us,  serves,  also  to 
quicken  our  love  to  Him.  Made,  in  this  blessed 
ordinance,  to  realize  the  greatness  of  Christ's 
love  for  us,  we  also,  as  we  stand  at  the  Lord's 
Table,  are  in  return  quickened  in  our  love 
for  Him.  Here,  more  than  any  where  else, 
we  are  made  to  love  Him,  because  here  we 
264 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

are  made  to  see  and  feel  as  nowhere  else,  how 
much  He  loved  us.  The  love  of  Christ  here 
constraineth  us.  The  sight,  by  faith,  of  the 
Cross  of  our  Saviour,  the  witnessing  thus  of 
His  great  Love  for  us,  and  of  all  which,  moved 
by  love,  He  suffered  for  us  and  purchased  for 
us,  melts  our  hard  hearts,  starts  tears  of  grate- 
ful love  to  our  eyes,  and  draws  us  in  reciprocal 
love  to  Him  as  our  Infinite  Benefactor.  And, 
moved  by  this  quickened  love,  we  fall  in  holy 
adoration  before  Him,  and,  in  our  hearts,  cry 
out  to  Him:  'T  love  Thee,  I  love  Thee,  O 
Christ.  Thy  love  has  won  me.  I  cannot  but 
love  Thee. 

"Yes !    Thou  shalt  always  have  my  heart, 
My  soul,  my  strength,  my  all ; 

With  life  itself  I'll  freely  part. 
My  Jesus,  at  Thy  call." 

But  this  Holy  Sacrament  is  precious  also  to 
us  because  there  is  no  time  when,  as  believers 
in  Christ,  our  love  for  each  other  is  so  quick- 
ened, and  when  our  hearts  are  so  melted  into 
fervent  and  fraternal  unity. 

.Here,  at  the  Lord's  Table,  we  are  made  to 
265 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

realize,  as  nowhere  else,  that  we  are  brethren. 
In  the  holy  presence  of  our  common  Lord, 
in  this  Communion,  all  strife  is  hushed,  all 
wrongs  forgiven,  all  enmities  melted  into  love 
in  the  light  and  warmth  of  the  love  of  Christ, 
Him  Who  is  the  Great  Reconciler  of  us  all  to 
all  alienations  reconciled  in  the  presence  of 
God. 

It  is  said  of  Bishop  Warburton,  of  England, 
that  in  giving  the  cup,  on  one  occasion,  to 
a  communicant  who  had  been  his  life-long 
enemy,  he  tenderly  bent  over  him  and  said : 
"Dear  brother,  let  this  cup  to-day  be  the  cup 
of  mutual  love  and  reconciliation  between  us." 
So  it  has  often  been  between  those  who  had 
been  estranged.  So  should  it  always  be  be- 
tween all  who  come  together  to  their  Mas- 
ter's Table.  So  let  it  here  be,  to-day.  So  it 
is,  I  trust.  When  you  come  here  then,  to-day, 
to  your  Master's  Table,  stand  close  together, 
my  brethren.  Let  heart  beat  warm  to  heart. 
Let  hand  clasp  hand  in  love.  Forget  not 
that  ye  are  all  children  in  the  same  blessed 
household  of  faith,  heirs  of  the  same  God 
and  joint-heirs  with  the  same  Lord  Jesus 
266 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Christ,  to  the  same  inheritance,  even  that 
which  is  "incorruptible,  and  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  you." 

But  this  Holy  Sacrament  is  more  yet  in 
blessing  even  than  all  this,  to  those  who  come 
to  it  in  true  faith. 

It  not  only  thus,  in  its  subjective  influences, 
brings  us  spiritually  to  Christ,  and  to  each 
other,  but  better  than  all  these  it  also  brings 
Christ  to  us,  gives  to  us  our  personal  Lord  Him- 
self. This  is,  indeed,  in  the  deepest,  truest  sense 
of  the  word,  a  Sacrament,  "commanded  of  God 
and  having  the  promise  of  grace."  In  the 
words  of  our  Catechism,  "It  is  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  under  the 
external  signs  of  bread  and  wine,  given  unto 
Christians,  to  eat  and  drink,  as  it  was  insti- 
tuted by  Christ  Himself." 

,This  Holy  Sacrament  has  in  itself  objective 
reality,  inherent  sacramental  character  and 
blessing.  It  is,  by  virtue  of  its  divine  insti- 
tution, a  channel  or  "Means  of  Grace."  We 
do  not  make  it  such  means  of  grace :  Christ 
has  made  it  all  this.  We  put  nothing  into  it ; 
we  only  receive  from  it  the  divine  contents 
267 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

which  Christ  has  placed  in  it,  namely,  the 
grace,  the  heavenly  blessing,  Christ  Himself, 
Who,  through  it,  communicates  Himself  to  all 
who  eat  and  drink  of  it. 

It  is  not  a  mere  remembrance,  a  mere  con- 
fession, a  mere  witnessing:  it  is  really  a  "com- 
munion," an  actual  feeding  of  the  soul  upon 
the  glorified  Christ.  It  is  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Jesus  Himself  is  in  this  sacrament,  and  through 
it,  He  is  offered  to,  and  received  by,  all  who 
partake  of  it.  As  our  Confession  declares : 
"Of  the  Supper  of  the  Lord  they  teach  that 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are  truly  pres- 
ent, and  truly  communicated  to  those  that  eat 
in  the  Lord's  Supper."  Or,  as  even  Dr.  Watts 
has  sung: 

"Here,  at  Thy  table,  Lord,  we  meet 

To  feed  on  food  divine ; 
Thy  body  is  the  Bread  we  eat, 

Thy  precious  Blood  the  wine." 

To  this  Holy  Sacrament  we  are  now,  as 
Brethren  in  the  Gospel  Ministry,  and  as  fellow 
members  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  about  to 
come.  "All  things  are  now  ready."  The 
Feast  is  prepared.  The  Master  Himself  has 
268 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

set  for  us  the  Table.  "Thou  preparest  a  table 
before  me  in  the  presence  of  my  enemies,  Thou 
anointest  my  head  with  oil,  my  cup  runneth 
over."  And  now  he  invites  us  to  it,  and  waits 
to  welcome  us  as  His  guests. 

Come,  then.  Come,  hungering  after  Christ 
as  the  divine  food  for  your  soul.  Come,  thirst- 
ing for  Christ,  as  the  divine  water  of  life, 
"of  which  if  a  man  drink  he  shall  never  thirst." 
Come  in  humility,  in  penitence,  in  faith,  in  love, 
in  renewed  consecration  of  yourself,  and  your 
all,  for  time  and  eternity,  to  Him.  And,  thus 
coming,  we,  as  the  disciples  on  the  way  to 
Emmaus,  holding  blessed  converse  and  com- 
panionship here  to-day  with  our  Risen  Lord, 
shall  feel  the  warm  glow  of  His  love,  and  shall 
say  to  each  other :  "Did  not  our  heart  burn 
within  us  while  He  talked  with  us  by  the  way?" 

Brethren  of  the  Gospel  Ministry.  You  espe- 
cially will,  to-day,  rejoice  to  stand  here  to- 
gether at  the  Table  of  your  Divine  Lord. 
Toiling,  as  we  are,  in  widely  separated  Fields ; 
often  burdened  with  duties  and  cares  and  sor- 
rows beyond  our  strength ;  isolated,  lonely,  and 
often  cast  down ;  how  we  long  for  each  other. 
269 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

How  our  hearts  ache,  at  times,  for  each  other's 
presence,  and  sympathy,  and  words  of  cheer. 
To-day  that  longed-for  joy  is  reaHzed.  We  are 
to-day  together.  And  together  we  are  now 
to  stand  here,  side  by  side,  at  this  Table  of 
our  Master.  It  is  a  blessed  privilege.  I  rejoice 
in  it.  My  heart  quickens  at  the  thought.  I 
grow  impatient  in  my  love  for  you,  as  brother 
ministers,  and  as  brethren  in  Christ,  to  come 
with  you  here.  May  He,  whose  servants  we 
are,  whom  we  preach,  and  to  whom  we  have 
given  up  our  lives,  as  His  ambassadors ;  He, 
who  is  the  Chief  Shepherd  of  us  all ;  may  He, 
I  say,  to-day,  gloriously  and  abundantly  impart 
Himself  in  all  the  fulness  of  His  Divine- 
Human  Person,  to  each  one  of  us.  May  He 
fill  us  with  the  comfort  and  strength  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  May  we  here,  by  this  food  from 
heaven,  be  girded  anew  for  our  work.  And 
having  all  stood  faithfully  at  our  various  posts 
of  duty,  and  done  for  Him  here  on  earth  our 
work,  when  at  last  one  by  one  we  fall  in  death, 
as  soon  we  will,  may  it  only  be  to  arise  and 
awake  in  that  other  and  heavenly  life,  where 
forever  we  shall  be  with  each  other  and  with 
the  Lord. 

270 


DR.  MARTIN  LUTHER  AS  A 
CHRISTIAN. 

TEXT. 

"He  being  dead  yet  speaketh." — Hebrews  vxi.  4- 

To  a  consideration  of  this  purely  Christian 
side  of  Dr.  Luther's  character,  or  to  the  con- 
templation of  Luther  simply  as  a  disciple  of 
Christ,  I  wish,  to-day,  to  invite  your  atten- 
tion. It  is  both  an  interesting  and  profitable 
subject,  and  its  study  will  do  us  good.  Mar- 
tin Luther,  as  an  example  of  piety,  commends 
himself  to  the  imitation  of  us  all,  and,  in  this 
respect  especially,  he,  being  dead,  yet  speak- 
eth. 

Considering  him  in  this  respect,  let  us  look 
at  Luther's  piety. 

I.  In  its  experimental  and  deeply  spir- 
itual BEGINNING  ;  AND 

II.  In  its  lofty  subsequent  development 

AND  maturity. 

Luther's  Christian  life  began  where  a  gen- 
uine Christian  life  always  begins,  and  where 

271 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

alone  it  can  begin ;  viz.,  in  his  personal  spirit- 
ual quickening  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  began 
in  his  coming  by  faith,  as  a  lost  sinner,  to 
Christ,  and  in  his  acceptance  of  Him  as  his 
own  personal  Saviour.  From  his  childhood 
he  had  not  only  been  strictly  moral  but  had 
also  been  in  external  devotion  exceedingly  re- 
ligious. Never  had  a  day  of  his  life  passed 
without  Prayer.  Always  he  had  faithfully 
observed  every  requirement  of  the  Church, 
and  no  known  religious  duty  did  he  ever  omit. 
Like  Paul,  he  was,  "in  the  law  blameless." 
But  yet,  with  all  this  fidelity  to  the  external 
duties  of  a  religious  life,  he  had  no  true  peace; 
no  real  rest  of  conscience.  He  still  felt  bur- 
dened with  a  sense  of  guilt  and  of  unreconcil- 
iation  to  God.  "How  shall  man  be  just  with 
God?"  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world  and  lose  his  soul?"  These 
were  questions  which  often,  he  tells  us, 
pressed  heavily  upon  him  and  often  filled  him 
with  inexpressible  wretchedness.  No  one,  per- 
haps, ever  had  a  deeper  sense  of  sin  or  came 
under  a  deeper  sense  of  his  lost  and  ruined 
state  because  of  sin,  than  he  did.  When 
272 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Alexis,  one  of  his  intimate  college  friends, 
was  assassinated  he  was  most  deeply  affected, 
and  cried  out:  "What  would  have  become  of 
me  had  I  thus  suddenly  been  called  away?" 
Soon  afterward,  in  the  same  year,  1505,  when 
on  a  visit  to  his  parents,  a  short  distance  from 
Erfurt,  he  was  overtaken  by  a  terrific  thun- 
derstorm, and  was  filled  with  terror  at  the 
thought  that  his  hour  had  come,  and  that  he 
might  now  be  summoned  to  meet  God.  Fall- 
ing upon  his  knees  he  prayed  earnestly  for 
mercy.  And  thus,  for  several  years,  he  felt 
fiis  guilt;  saw  the  pollution  of  his  soul;  real- 
ized himself  a  lost,  undone  sinner,  seeking 
peace  meanwhile  in  the  prescribed  works  and 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  and  in  efforts  at 
self-salvation,  with  none  to  show  him  to  Christ 
and  to  the  Cross.  So  great  was  his  convic- 
tion that,  at  length,  when  he  was  a  student  in 
the  University  of  Erfurt,  his  distress  of  soul, 
under  this  burden  of  his  sinfulness  and  lost 
condition  became  so  great,  so  utterly  intoler- 
able, that,  relinquishing  all  the  fine  prospects 
before  him,  he  fled  into  the  neighboring  Au- 
gustinian  Monastery,  hoping  there,  by  pen- 
273 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ances  and  vigils  and  fasts  and  bodily  morti- 
fications, to  work  out  a  righteousness  which 
should  be  well-pleasing  to  God  and  bring  him 
the  peace  of  soul  for  which  he  longed.  But 
the  more  he  thus  sought,  the  deeper  he  sank 
in  spiritual  wretchedness;  the  denser  became 
the  gloom  of  his  soul ;  the  heavier  pressed  upon 
him  his  burden  of  bitter  anguish. 

One  day,  when  sitting  at  the  table  in  the 
Monastery  silent  and  dejected,  the  Vicar-Gen- 
eral said  to  him  :  "Why  are  you  so  sad,  Brother 
Martin?"  "Ah,"  he  replied,  "my  sins,  my  sins. 
Alas,  I  do  not  know  what  will  become  of  me." 
"It  is  vain,"  he  cried,  "that  I  make  promises. 
Sin  is  ever  the  strongest."     Then  the  Vicar- 
General,  Staupitz  by  name,  who  was  himself 
a  true  believer  in  Christ,  said  to  him :  "Why  do 
you   thus   torment   yourself?     Look    at    the 
wounds  of  Jesus  Christ.     Look  to  the  blood 
which  He  shed  for  you.     Instead  of  torturing 
yourself  thus  about  your  sins,  and  trying  your- 
self to   atone   for   them,   throw  yourself,   by 
faith,  with  them,  into  the  Redeemer's  arms. 
Trust  in  Him ;  in  the  righteousness  of  His 
life,  in  the  atonement  of  His  death.     Do  not 
274 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

shrink  back.     God  is  not  angry  with  you.     It 
is  you  who  are  angry  with  God." 

Like  a  direct  voice  from  heaven  came  these 
gospel-words  to  Luther's  wounded  spirit.  In 
a  moment  he  now  saw  it  all ;  saw  God's  whole 
plan  of  salvation.  Man  is  justified  before 
God,  hot  by  works  but  only  through  faith  in 
the  blood  of  Christ.  "God  forgives  man,"  he 
exclaims,  "freely,  fully,  immediately,  alone 
for  the  sake  of  Christ.  By  believing  in  Christ, 
by  trusting  my  soul  to  Christ,  God  promises 
to  forgive  me.  I  do  believe.  I  believe  in  the 
forgiveness  of  sins.  I  believe  in  the  forgive- 
ness, for  Christ's  sake,  of  my  sins.  I  now 
believe." 

Thus  believing,  at  once  the  burden  fell 
from  his  soul,  and  the  peace  of  mind  which 
he  had  so  long  sought  was,  at  last,  his.  As 
D'Aubigne  writes :  "From  this  moment  light 
sprung  up  in  the  heart  of  that  young  monk  of 
Erfurt.  The  word  of  divine  pardoning  grace 
had  been  spoken  to  him ;  he  believed  it ;  and 
now,  disclaiming  all  self-merit  of  salvation, 
he  resigns  himself  confidingly  to  the  favor 
of  God  through  Jesus  Christ." 
275 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Yet  other  experiences,  however,  were  neces- 
sary to  bring  Luther  out  into  the  full  assur- 
ance of  this  new  Hfe  in  Christ  into  which  he 
had  thus  been  brought.  And  these,  also,  God 
gave  him. 

Several  years  after  this  date,  while  Luther 
was  engaged  in  his  duties  as  a  professor  in 
the  University  of  Wittenberg  (in  1509),  and 
whilst  preparing  lectures  on  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  he  came  to  the  passage :  "The 
just  shall  live  by  faith."  His  meditations  on 
this  Epistle  had  brought  much  of  the  light  of 
truth  into  his  soul;  but  now,  this  passage 
impresses  him  with  more  than  ordinary  em- 
phasis. He  receives  it  into  his  heart  as  a  spe- 
cial message  from  God.  It  gives  strength 
henceforth  to  the  life  of  God  in  his  soul.  It 
brings  him  victory  in  every  hour  of  doubt 
and  conflict.  On  a  journey  to  Rome  (in  15 10 
or  possibly  later),  and  being  stricken  down 
with  sickness  at  Bologna,  his  former  distress 
of  mind  again  weighed  heavily  upon  him,  es- 
pecially his  sense  of  sin,  in  view  of  the  near- 
ness of  the  judgment.  But  just  when  his  an- 
guish was  at  its  height  this  same  word — "The 
276 


Joy  in  the.  Divine  Government. 

just  shall  live  by  faith" — again  beamed  in 
upon  his  soul  as  a  special  ray  from  heaven.  It 
dispelled  his  fears  and  again  brought  him 
peace  and  joy. 

But  Luther  was  not  yet  in  the  full  and  abid- 
ing possession  of  gospel  freedom.     He  was 
still  somewhat  under  the  influence  of  a  lin- 
gering delusion.     He  could  not  yet  fully  rid 
himself  of  the  almost  universal  belief  in  the 
efficiency    of    indulgences,     and     of    masses, 
prayers,  and  other  good  works,  to  deliver  the 
soul  from  the  fires  of  purgatory.     Having  ar- 
rived at  Rome,  he  was  one  day,  under    the 
power  of  this  delusion,  ascending  upon    his 
knees   "Pilate's   Staircase."     Whilst  thus  en- 
gaged, he  seemed  to  hear  a  voice  speaking  to 
him  in  thundertones  from  the  very  depths  of 
his  soul :  "The  just  shall  live  by  faith."     It 
was  enough.     Horrified,  and  ashamed  of  his 
superstition  and  degradation,  he  sprung  from 
his  knees,  a  free  man  forever — free  in  the  ful- 
ness of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  free  from 
the  delusions  and  superstitions  of  Rome,  for- 
ever.    He  now   speaks   of   himself   as   being 
277 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

born  again  a  new  man,  and  as  entering  by  an 
opened  door  into  Paradise  itself. . 

God  had  now  given  His  own  work  His  own 
finishing  touch.  He  had  taught  Luther  fully 
the  doctrine  of  "Justification  by  Faith  alone ;" 
and  it,  through  Luther,  went  out  henceforth 
as  the  Church's  hope,  to  fall  no  more  forever. 
Luther  and  the  Church  could  henceforth  sing : 
"Ich  habe  nun  den  grund  gefunden : 

I  now  have  found  the  sure  foundation, 

That  holds  my  anchor  evermore; 
'Tis  found  alone  in  Christ's  redemption. 
And  naught  was  in  God's  plan,  before; 
This  anchor-ground  shall  ever  stay. 
When  earth  and  heaven  have  passed  away. 

Thus  did  Luther,  as  a  Christian,  begin  at 
the  real  and  true  beginning  of  a  Christian  life. 
He  came,  as  a  convicted,  sin-burdened  soul, 
to  Christ.  He  cast  himself,  as  such,  by  faith 
on  Christ,  and  on  Him  alone,  for  the  salvation 
he  needed.  He  saw,  in  all  its  evangelical  ful- 
ness and  clearness,  God's  method  of  saving- 
sinners.  He  heartily  accepted  it.  He,  at  once, 
also  felt  and  knew  its  blessed  saving  power  in 
278 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

his  own  souL  At  once,  also,  he  was  assured 
that  he  was  in  Christ;  that  he  was  reconciled 
to  God ;  and  that  he  had  the  testimony  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  within  his  own  heart  through 
faith  in  God's  word,  that  his  sins,  for  Christ's 
sake,  were  pardoned,  and  that  he  now  was  in- 
deed an  heir  of  heaven. 

And  that  also,  I  may  add,  was  the  birth- 
hour  of  the  Reformation.  Then,  already, 
when  Luther  thus  was  once  brought  to  see 
that  God's  plan  of  saving  sinners  is,  not  by 
works  of  man's  righteousness,  but  only  and 
fully  through  simple  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  then,  I  say,  was  the  great  Protestant 
Reformation,  also,  born ;  a  Reformation  whose 
essential  and  cardinal  doctrine  is  the  great 
gospel  doctrine  of  "Justification  alone  by 
Faith." 

The  true  anniversary  therefore  of  the  Ref- 
ormation is  not  the  anniversary  of  Luther's 
natural  birth,  November  loth,  1483,  nor  of  the 
nailing  up  of  the  ninety-five  theses,  but  the 
anniversary  of  his  new,  spiritual  quickening. 
The  day  when  he  thus  first  experienced, 
through  faith  in  Christ,  that  his  sins  were  for- 
279 


Joy  in  the  t)ivine  Government. 

given,  that  he  was  a  redeemed  and  reconciled 
child  of  God ;  that  was  the  day  on  which  the 
Reformation  was  really  born,  the  day  when 
the  Gospel  was  again  restored  to  man. 

In  view  of  this  conversion,  and  real  heart- 
consciousness  of  his  salvation,  which  Luther 
thus  experienced,  let  no  one  ever  regard  Luth- 
er as  some  wrongly  do,  as  a  mere  formalist  or 
half  Romanist  in  religion.  No  one  ever  had 
a  deeper  personal  religious  experience  than 
he.  No  one  knew  better  than  he  what  "Ex- 
perimental Piety"  is. 

Proceeding,  let  us  now  notice  : 

IL — The  Christian  character  or  piety  of 
Luther  in  its  splendid  subsequent  development 
or  maturity. 

Luther  not  only  began  well  as  a  Christian, 
but  he  also  continued  well  as  such.  He  not 
only  received  the  new  life  of  Christ  into  his 
soul,  but  he  also  cultivated  and  carefully  nour- 
ished what  he  had  thus  received. 

There  are  two  means  which  God  has  pro- 
vided, by  whose  faithful  use  our  spiritual  or 
new  life  in  Christ  can  and  will  be  increased, 
and  will  be  made  to  grow,  and  expand  into 
280 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

healthful  and  fruitful  vigor.  Those  two 
means  are  God's  Word  and  Prayer.  The 
Word  is  the  soul's  true  spiritual  food,  con- 
taining Christ,  the  Divine  Manna  from  heav-^ 
en,  and  he  that  eateth  of  that  bread  shall  never 
hunger.  Prayer,  as  the  expression  of  desire 
and  faith,  is  the  spiritual  hand  by  which  man 
reaches  out  and  takes  hold  of  this  food ;  or,  in 
answer  to  which,  God  imparts  the  blessed  con- 
tents of  the  Word  to  the  soul,  and  feeds  it 
richly  upon  that  food.  And  thus  by  the  Word 
of  God,  including,  of  course,  always  the  Sac- 
raments which  are  God's  visible  word  to  man, 
the  Christian  life  is  nourished  and  is  made 
stronger  day  by  day,  down  to  the  close  of 
life. 

Thus  pre-eminently  did  Luther,  as  a  Chris- 
tian, nourish  the  new  life  of  Christ  which  was 
begun  in  his  baptism  and  quickened  into  con- 
ciousness  in  his  conversion.  No  one,  as  a 
Christian,  ever  more  loved,  and  studied,  and 
fed  upon,  and  built  himself  up  in  christian 
character,  by  the  constant  study  of  the  Bible, 
or  Word  of  God,  than  did  Luther.  His  love 
for  it  was  a  very  passion  in  his  soul.  What- 
281 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

ever  might  be  his  other  cares  and  duties,  he 
would  still  find  a  few  hours'  time  each  day 
for  the  private  reading  and  study  of  the  Sa- 
cred Scriptures ;  and  often  he  would  snatch 
hours  of  needed  rest  at  night,  and  devote  them 
to  meditation  upon  the  precious  truths  which 
God  here  in  His  Word  revealed  to  him.  When 
he  was  a  prisoner  for  nine  months  in  the 
Castle  Wartburg,  all  his  time,  day  and  night, 
save  only  what  was  absolutely  needed  for 
sleep,  was  given  up  to  this  one  book:  God's 
Book.  During  the  five  months,  also  that  he 
was  a  prisoner  in  the  Castle  of  Coburg,  he 
again  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  it  alone. 
And,  to-day  yet,  in  the  room  which  he  then  oc- 
cupied in  the  Castle  of  Coburg  may  be  seen 
written,  in  his  coarse,  bold  chirography,  all 
over  the  walls  and  doors  of  the  room,  one  pre- 
cious passage  of  God's  word  after  the  other. 
In  one  place,  e.  g.,  are  these  words  :  "I  shall  not 
die  but  live  and  declare  the  works  of  the  Lord." 
In  another  place,  over  the  head  of  his  bed,  is 
this  passage:  "I  will  both  lay  me  down  in 
peace  and  sleep,  for  thou,  Lord,  only  makest 
me  dwell  in  safety."  In  the  museum  at  Ber- 
282 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

lin  there  is  carefully  preserved  his  hand  Bible, 
the  copy  which  he  had  constantly  on  his 
study-table,  and  which  he  daily  used.  The 
margin  of  almost  every  page  is  all  written 
over  with  comments,  suggestions,  holy  aspi- 
rations and  prayers;  and  on  the  title-page  he 
has  written :  "If  this,  Thy  Word,  O  Lord,  do 
not  comfort  me,  I  shall  perish  in  misery." 

Thus  was  the  Bible  ever  a  precious  book  to 
Luther ;  and  thus  did  he  daily  and  hourly  feed 
his  soul  upon  it,  and  build  himself  up  in  chris- 
tian character  and  life  by  it. 

Equally  was  Luther  a  man  of  prayer.  His 
biographers  tell  us  that  two  hours  each  day 
he  gave  up  to  private  devotion ;  and,  in  order 
to  have  them,  he  would  often  rise  long  before 
day,  or  sit  up  late  in  the  night,  but,  under  no 
circumstances,  would  he  suffer  himself  to  be 
deprived  of  this  daily  private  communion  with 
God.  He  never  felt  himself  prepared,  is  his 
testimony,  for  the  many  cares  and  duties  and 
perplexities  which  each  day  brought  to  him, 
until  he  had  first  gone  in  prayer  to  God,  and 
had  received  strength  from  Him  for  them. 
283 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

And   his   motto   was,   you   know :   "To  have 
prayed  well  is  to  have  studied  well." 

Thus,  all  through  his  life,  he  was  a  man  of 
prayer.  Read  his  biography,  and  see  what  a 
man  of  prayer  he  was.  Nothing  was  begun 
or  done  without  prayer.  Read  his  prayer  for 
God's  help,  e.  g.,  before  he  went  into  the  Diet 
at  Worms,  where  he  made  such  a  sublime  con- 
fession for  Christ.  Read  his  prayer,  so  ten- 
der and  submissive,  as  he  bends  over  the  form 
of  his  darling  little  daughter  Magdalene,  cold 
in  death,  saying :  "I  love  her  exceedingly,  but, 
O  God,  as  it  is  Thy  will  to  take  her  hence,  I 
willingly  resign  her  to  Thee."  Read  his 
prayer  at  Melanchthon's  sick-bed,  where,  in  the 
unyielding  importunity  of  his  mighty  faith,  he 
almost  demanded  from  God  his  recovery.  And 
read,  finally,  his  matchless  deathbed  prayer, 
where,  in  peace  and  triumphant  hope,  he 
sweetly  commits  himself  and  his  all  into  the 
hands  of  his  covenant-keeping  God,  saying:  "I 
thank  Thee,  O  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  Thou  hast  revealed  Thy  Son 
to  me^  on  whom  I  have  believed,  whom  I  have 
loved ;  whom  I  have  preached,  confessed  and 
284 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

worshiped,  whom  the  Pope  and  all  the  ungodly 
abuse  and  slander.  O  my  Lord  Jesus,  I  com- 
mend my  poor  soul  to  Thee." 

Thus  was  our  Luther  pre-eminently  a  man 
of  prayer.  The  "Mercy-seat,"  both  in  life 
and  in  death,  was  his  refuge.  Thither  he  car- 
ried all  his  sorrows.  To  that  blessed  heavenly 
arsenal  he  daily  repaired  for  the  spiritual 
weapons  he  needed,  and  for  needed  strength 
to  wield  them  in  the  desperate  conflict  he  was 
waging  against  God's  foes.  His  help  in  every 
time  of  need,  his  strength  to  battle  as  he  did 
against  all  the  mighty  hosts  of  hell  by  which 
he  was  ever  so  sorely  besieged,  was  all  gotten 
on  his  knees ;  and  his  whole  grand  life-work 
for  Christ  and  for  His  Church  was  born  and 
bathed  in  his  own  inner  spiritual  life  of  prayer 
and  communion  with  God. 

And  so  was  it  also  in  all  the  other  graces 
which  constitute  a  high  and  true  christian  life 
and  character.  He  was  eminent  in  them  all, 
and,  as  a  splendid  model  of  christian  manhood 
in  all  respects,  "he,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh." 
He  gave  evidence  of  exalted  piety,  and  mani- 
fested daily,  "the  fruits  of  the  Spirit"  as  proof 
28s 


N 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

that  the  Holy  Spirit  had,  indeed,  renewed  him 
in  the  image  of  Christ.  His  spirit  and  Hfe 
both  declare  him  to  have  been,  indeed,  a  true 
child  of  God,  a  sincere,  earnest,  holy  disciple 
of  the  Saviour. 

I  claim  not,  of  course,  perfection  for  Luth- 
er as  a  Christian,  for  no  one  is  perfect.  Faults 
and  imperfections  may  easily  be  detected  both 
in  his  spirit  and  life.  He  made  no  attempt  to 
conceal  them.  They  all  lie  on  the  outside  of 
his  great  rugged  nature,  out  in  the  full  sun- 
light of  broad  and  open  day.  But  still  study 
that  character  of  his.  Get  yourself  once  right 
into  the  innermost  soul  of  the  man.  Acquaint 
yourself  thoroughly  with  him.  Know  his  life. 
And  where,  I  ask,  in  all  the  world's  great 
galaxy  of  heroes,  in  all  the  Church's  long  cal- 
endar of  saints,  can  you,  in  lofty  christian 
character  and  sublime  nobility  of  life,  find  any- 
where his  equal.  Since  the  days  when  Paul 
so  majestically  trod  the  earth  for  Christ,  who, 
in  strength  and  perfection  of  holy  spiritual 
being,  in  loftiness  and  singleness  of  aim,  in 
high  and  mighty  achievement  for  Christ,  can 
rival  this  great  and  good  and  glorious  Luther ! 
286 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

What  joyfulness  and  cheerfulness  of  christian 
spirit.  What  submission  and  resignation  to 
God's  will  under  sore  affliction.  What  deep 
consciousness  of  sin  and  what  oft-repeated  and 
humble  confession  of  it  before  God.  What 
simple  and  evangelical  faith  in  Christ  as  his 
only  ground  of  justification.  What  sublime 
christian  courage.  What  brave  confession  of 
Christ  and  of  His  truth,  even  at  the  constant 
peril  of  his  life.  What  unselfish  and  tire- 
less labors  for  Christ  and  His  Church.  What 
holy,  strong  and  unwavering  confidence  and 
trust,  at  all  times,  in  God,  even  in  darkest 
and  gloomiest  hours,  cheering  both  his  own 
soul  and  those  of  others,  by  singing,  in  in- 
spired words:  "God  is  our  refuge  and 
strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble,"  or 
by  chanting  his  own  sublime  "Battle  Hymn," 
appropriately  called  the  "Marseillaise  of  the 
Reformation:"  "Ein  feste  Burg  ist  unser 
Gott," 

A  mighty  Stronghold  is  our  God, 
A  sure  Defence  and  Weapon. 

Thus,    in    all   the    graces   which    make   up 
287 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

christian  character,  how  great  was  Luther ! 
And  how,  when  thus  studied  and  contemplated 
simply  as  an  humble  and  true  disciple  of 
Christ,  he  shows  himself,  measured  by  God's 
own  word,  one  of  the  loftiest  and  purest,  and 
best  of  all  the  sanctified  host  who  have  made 
up  the  long  history  of  the  Church,  and  one 
of  the  saintliest  in  all  the  long  line  of  illus- 
trious Christians  who  shine  out  in  spiritual 
splendor,  like  stars  in  the  hour  of  night,  from 
the  resplendent  celestial  glory. 

Beloved,  in  this  grandness  of  his  christian 
character  and  christian  life,  are  we  followers 
of  Luther?  His  early  convictions  of  sin,  his 
living,  peace-speaking  faith  in  Christ  as  his 
Saviour — have  we  these?  His  love  and  study 
of  God's  word — are  we  like  him  in  that?  His 
devotion  to  prayer — doweresemblehim  in  that? 
His  consecration  of  his  whole  self  to  the  service 
and  glory  of  God — in  that  are  we  like  him? 
His  diligence  and  tireless  labor  for  the  salva- 
tion of  souls,  his  zeal  for  God's  cause,  his 
fidelity  to  conscience,  his  heroism  for  the 
truth,  his  brave  courage  in  confessing  Christ, 
his  humility,  his  confidence  in  God,  his  simple 
288 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

faith  in  Christ,  his  holy  joy  and  hope  of  a 
better  life  when  this  life  ends — in  all  these 
christian  graces  are  we  like  him?  Luther's 
grand  piety,  have  we  it?  By  such  fellowship 
and  by  such  holy  similarity  of  christian  char- 
acter and  life  are  we  and  he  bound  together? 
Ah,  to  be  Christians  as  Luther  was;  let  that 
be  our  ambition.  In  that  let  us  all  copy  and 
follow  him.  Ever,  more  and  more,  in  that 
let  us  covet  resemblance  to  him. 

May  the  mighty  voice  of  this  great  man  of 
God,  this  grand  moral  hero  of  the  ages,  this 
sublime  champion  of  Christ  and  of  the  Gospel, 
this  holy  and  heroic  Luther,  fall,  to-day,  with 
living  power,  like  a  voice  from  heaven,  upon 
the  conscience  and  heart  of  each  one  of  us, 
upon  the  world  dead  in  sin,  and  upon  the 
Church  so  cold  and  formal  and  in  such  need 
of  a  new  Reformation,  and  awake  and  quick- 
en us  all,  bringing  again  a  blessing  both  to 
Church  and  State;  and  thus,  not  only  now, 
but  on  through  the  coming  centuries,  and 
down  even  to  the  end  of  time,  in  louder  and 
yet  louder  tones,  may  "he  being  dead"  con- 
tinue to  speak,  speak  for  our  pure  Protestant 
289 


Joy  ill  the  Divine  Government. 

Bible-faith,  for  holy  spiritual  life  and  charac- 
ter in  all  who  have  named  the  name  of  Christ, 
for  a  Church  separate  from  the  world  and  full 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  speak  for  the  truth,  for 
the  right,  for  souls,  for  Christ,  for  God. 


290 


THE    REFORMATION    THE 
WORK  OF  GOD. 

TEXT. 

"And  their  appearance  and  their  zvork  was  as  it 
were  a  wheel  in  the  middle  of  a  wheel." — Ezekiel 
i.  18. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  critical  ex- 
planation of  these  words  of  our  text.  To 
do  so  would  consume  more  time  than  we  now 
have  at  our  command.  They  express,  I  believe, 
the  great  Truth  that  God  is  in  all  Human  His- 
tory ;  that  in,  and  over,  and  above,  all  Human 
Activities  there  is  ever  an  all-controlling  Divine 
Providence,  directing  man's  thoughts  and  plans 
and  agencies  so  as  to  bring  about,  as  the  final 
result  of  all.  His  own  great  Moral  Ends.  It 
is  the  free  agency  of  Man  and  the  Infinite 
Sovereignty  of  God  conjoined,  co-operating, 
unconsciously  often  on  man's  part,  to  effect 
what  God  wills  for  man's  good  and  for  His 
own  Divine  Glory.  The  work  which  we  call 
"History"  is,  as  it  were,  as  our  Text  declares : 
"A  Wheel  in  the  Middle  of  a  Wheel:"  the 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

one  visible,  the  other  invisible ;  the  one  human, 
the  other  Divine;  the  one  grinding  out,  as  it 
thinks,  its  own  self-willed  and  self-accomplished 
results,  and  yet  ever,  in  doing  as  it  will,  achiev- 
ing the  purposes  of  the  Higher  Will  of  Him 
Who  sits  supreme  above  and  over  all. 

This  great  Truth  of  "God  in  History"  stands 
out  with  marvellous  clearness  in  connection 
with  the  Reformation  of  the  Sixteenth  Cen- 
tury. The  whole  history  of  that  Wonderful 
Movement,  from  first  to  last,  declares  that  God 
was  in  it,  and  that  it  was  all  His  Work.  No 
power  less  than  His  could  possibly  have 
achieved  it.  No  other  Philosophy  or  Solu- 
tion of  it  than  that  which  recognizes  God  as 
its  Author  can  ever  satisfactorily  explain  it. 
The  Reformation  is  and  can  be  only  the  Work 
of  God.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  sec- 
ondary aids  and  occasions  of  the  Vast  Move- 
ment; whatever  may  have  been  the  mighty 
Human  Instrumentalities  employed  by  which 
to  prosecute  it,  and  by  which  it  was  led  to 
a  successful  and  glorious  issue,  still  before 
all,  back  of  all,  above  and  over  all,  as  the  real 
Cause  and  Power  and  Author  of  all,  producing, 
292 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

controlling,  and  determining  all,  was  God. 
"The  world,"  said  Luther,  himself,  one  day, 
"is  a  vast  and  magnificent  Game  of  Cards, 
made  up  of  Emperors,  Kings,  and  Princes. 
The  Pope,  for  many  Centuries,  beat  the  Em- 
perors, Kings,  and  Princes.  They  yielded  and 
fell  before  him.  Then  came  our  Lord  God. 
He  dealt  the  Cards.  He  took  the  lowest, 
Luther,  and  with  it  He  beat  the  Pope,  that 
Vanquisher  of  the  Kings  of  the  Earth.  As 
Mary  sung:  'He  hath  put  down  the  mighty 
from  their  seats  and  exalted  them  of  low  de- 
gree.' " 

I  wish  to  speak,  to-day,  upon 

"The  reformation  as  the  work  of  God." 

L    There  is  clear  proof  of  divine  agency 

ALREADY  IN  THE  MULTIPLIED  AND  MARKED 
OCCURRENCES  WHICH  PRECEDED  THE  REFORMA- 
TION. 

He  entirely  misconceives  the  real   facts  of 

history  who  supposes  that  the  Reformation, 

like  Minerva  from  the  Brow  of  Jupiter,  burst, 

at  once,  born  in  a  day,  upon  the  World.     On 

293 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

F??^T ■^^■.  v';':/'v'"A^'^'-^':  '  ■'  ■  ■'    '■■'■■:    ■■'■■T'-;-; 

the  contrary  it  was,  like  all  real  works  of 
God,  brought  into  existence  slowly.  There 
was  a  long  Dawn  before  Day;  Twilight  be- 
fore the  full-orbed  Sunrising;  Prophecy  of 
better  things  before  those  better  things  them- 
selves were  given.  As  John  the  Baptist  went 
before  the  Coming  Christ,  and  prepared  the 
way  for  Him,  so  there  were  Reformers  before 
the  Reformation ;  Lutherans  before  Luther ; 
Protestants  before  Llistoric  Protestantism ; 
Providences  before  the  final  Providences  which 
gave  birth,  at  last,  a  second  time,  to  Apostolic 
Christianity  in  the  World. 

The  Hundred  Years  preceding  the  Birth  of 
Luther  were  Years  during  which  God  was 
busy,  getting  the  World  and  Church  ready 
for  Luther ;  and  without  which  Divine  Prepar- 
atory Work,  Luther  would  have  been  an  His- 
toric Impossibility,  and  the  Reformation  un- 
heard of  in  the  past  Annals  of  Time.  But 
God,  I  repeat,  was  busy. 

What  true  Gospel  Preachers,  for  example, 

there  were  before  Luther !     John   Wicklifife, 

the  Morning  Star  of  the  Reformation,  born 

in  1324 — more  than  150  years  before  Luther, — 

294 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

preached  mightily  the  pure  truth,  translated 
the  Scriptures,  lived  and  died  for  Christ,  and 
left  a  deep  religious  impress  upon  his  day  and 
age.  John  Huss,  born  in  1369  in  Bohemia, 
had,  a  century  before  Luther,  bravely  exposed 
the  Corruption,  and  defied  the  Power,  of  the 
haughty  Church  of  Rome ;  and  when,  July  6th, 
1415,  he  was  burned  at  the  stake  for  the  heroic 
Confession  which  he  had  thus  made,  there 
was  "started  a  Fire  the  Red  Glow  of  whose 
Flames  flashed  far  out  upon  the  dark  night, 
and  continued  to  shine  until,  at  last,  the  new, 
longed-for  Reformation  Day  arose."  Savona- 
rola, also,  the  noble  Italian  Reformer,  Patriot, 
Martyr,  right  in  the  very  Heart  of  Popedom, 
held  faithfully  aloft  the  pure  Banner  of  the 
Cross,  and  bade  men  trust  for  salvation  in 
Him  who  there  died  for  them !  And  then 
what  a  long  line  of  noble  Martyrs,  also,  in 
lower  Ranks,  before  Luther,  there  were  !  What 
witnesses  for  Christ  there  were,  here  and  there, 
in  many  Lands,  sealing  their  testimony  with 
their  blood :  more  than  two  hundred  having 
been  burned  as  heretics  at  the  Stake  in  the 
very  City  of  Augsburg,  where  afterward  the 
29s 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Reformers  made  their  brave  Confession  of 
our  Holy  Faith.  And  all  these  witnesses  were 
kindling  the  Fire  and  preparing  the  Conditions 
of  Success,  for  the  great  final  Witnessing  by 
Luther  and  his  fellow  Reformers. 

But  there  were  many  other  marked  prepara- 
tory Providences.  The  discovery  of  the  Art 
of  Printing  in  the  year  1440,  less  than  half 
a  Century  before  Luther  was  born;  the  Dis- 
covery of  America  in  1492,  only  nine  years 
after  his  Birth;  the  Overthrow,  just  at  that 
time,  of  the  Dominion  of  the  Moors,  who  for 
the  previous  eight  hundred  years  had  ruled 
over  Southern  Spain  and  had  menaced  Europe ; 
the  Check  which,  at  last,  had  just  then  been 
given  and  the  Victories  which  had  just  then 
been  secured  over  the  invading  Turks;  the 
Printing,  just  then,  of  the  Bible ;  the  Founding 
of  the  University  of  Wittenberg,  in  1502,  by 
the  Elector  of  Saxony,  which  afterward  be- 
came the  very  Center  of  the  work  of  the  Refor- 
mation; the  Conflicts  of  Rival  Popes,  and 
the  Divisions  by  which  the  Church  of  Rome 
was  then  torn  and  shaken  to  her  Center;  the 
Jealousy  and  Contests  for  Supremacy  between 
296 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

the  Papal  and  the  Imperial  Power;  the  Re- 
vival of  Learning,  and  especially  of  the  Study 
of  the  Classics,  and  of  Biblical  Hebrew  and 
Greek,  under  Reuchlin  and  Erasmus  and  oth- 
ers; the  Dethronement  of  Scholastic  Philoso- 
phy, and  the  awakened  Desire  of  the  Literary 
World  for  a  more  solid  Scholarship ;  and,  above 
all,  the  deep-seated  and  inextinguishable  Long- 
ing of  Human  Hearts,  every  where,  for  a 
clearer  Knowledge  of  God,  and  for  a  more 
satisfying  Way  of  Salvation:  these  all  reveal 
the  Presence  and  over-ruling  Agency  of  God, 
working  in  anticipation  of  the  Reformation, 
breaking  up  the  fallow  Ground,  removing 
obstacles,  overturning  opposing  forces,  gather- 
ing the  needed  materials,  kindling  and  fanning 
the  increasing  flame,  and  every  where,  by  the 
awakened  mental  activities  of  the  age,  by  social 
upheavals,  by  political  complications  and  en- 
tanglements, by  the  growing  corruptions  and 
oppressions  and  wicked  ambitions  even  of  the 
Church,  by  the  sudden  birth  and  progress  of 
Science,  of  Literature,  of  Art,  of  Discovery,  of 
Invention:  by  all  of  these  factors,  God  Him- 
self, in  that  Century,  trod  with  Divine  Imperial 
297 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

step  out  over  the  broad  busy  Theatre  of  the 
World's  History,  and,  louder  and  mightier  than 
all  other  Voices,  His  Voice  commanded  :  "Pre- 
pare ye  the  Way  of  the  Lord,  make  His  paths 
straight.  Let  every  Valley  be  exalted,  and 
every  Mountain  and  Hill  be  made  low,  and 
the  crooked  be  made  straight,  and  the  rough 
places  plain;  and  the  Glory  of  the  Lord  shall 
be  revealed,  and  all  Flesh  shall  see  it  together : 
for  the  Mouth  of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it." 
But  we  have  also: 

IL     Clear  proof  of  God's  agency  in  the 

REFORMATION  PERIOD  ITSELF:  IN  THE  INSTRU- 
MENTS, INFLUENCES,  ACTORS,  AND  FORCES 
THERE    EMPLOYED. 

,These  are  all  intensely  at  work,  acting  and 
counter-acting  on  each  other,  aiding  or  check- 
mating each  other,  each  with  its  own  special 
object  or  end  in  view,  and  yet  each,  as  we 
can  see  now,  whether  Friend  or  Foe,  whether 
desiring  to  do  so  or  unwilling  to  do  so,  each, 
I  say,  helping  on  to  Success  the  Great  Re- 
formation Work,  and  all  together  revealing 
God,  presiding  over  all,  and,  by  and  through 
298 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

all,  working  out  His  own  great  Purposes  of 
Blessing  to  the  World  and  to  the  Church. 

Take  Luther,  for  example,  the  chief  Actor 
in  the  stirring  Drama,  the  mighty  Human 
Leader  of  the  august  Movement,  the  princi- 
pal Instrument,  under  God,  by  which  the 
sublime  Work  was  achieved — what  a  child 
of  Providence  he  was !  How  his  history  from 
Beginning  to  End,  shows  Divine  Purpose, 
Guidance,  Protection,  Control!  What  suc- 
cessive Providential  Links  bind  together  and 
unify  the  whole  Life  of  that  Wonderful  Man ! 
Who  can  read  his  Marvellous  Biography  and 
not  be  compelled  to  say :  "This  Man  is  a  very 
Prophet  of  the  Almighty,  divinely  created 
for  His  Work,  separated  from  his  very  Birth 
to  it,  directed  at  every  step  of  his  Being  in 
it!"  Read  his  Life!  With  what  transcendent 
natural  abilities  for  his  Work  did  not  God 
endow  Him  !  Physically,  mentally,  socially ; 
his  will,  his  courage,  what  traits  characterize 
him!  And  then  what  a  Providential  History 
he  had !  How  clearly  God's  Hand  was  in  it 
all!  His  birth,  for  example,  of  peasant,  and 
not  of  noble,  blood,  so  that  the  Glory  of  his 
299 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

great  Work  could  be  attributed  only  to  God 
and  not  to  Man ;  the  Piety  of  his  Parents,  and 
their  earnest  Religious  Training  of  him;  his 
Father's  Efforts,  poor  as  he  was,  to  give  the 
promising  boy  an  Education;  the  boy's  own 
insatiable  Thirst  for  Learning;  his  painful 
Experiences  as  a  Charity  Student  at  Mans- 
feld,  at  Magdeburg,  at  Eisenach,  at  Erfurt; 
his  Poverty,  compelling  him  to  sing  before 
the  doors  of  the  citizens  of  Magdeburg,  cry- 
ing, "Panem  propter  Deum,"  "Bread  for  God's 
sake" ;  his  Adoption  into  her  home  by  the  com- 
passionate Madam  Ursala  Cotta,  where  he 
remained  three  years ;  his  astonishing  Success 
as  a  Student  in  the  University  of  Erfurt,  where 
his  genius  arrested  the  attention  of  all,  and 
gave  promise  of  a  most  brilliant  Future ;  his 
Providential  Discovery  while  there  of  a  Copy 
of  the  Bible ;  its  Effect  upon  Him,  in  reveal- 
ing to  him  the  Errors  and  Corruptions  of  the 
Church,  and,  above  all,  revealing  the  Sins  of 
his  own  heart,  and  of  his  Need  of  a  Saviour; 
the  Incident  of  the  Thunder-Storm,  and  the 
sudden  Death,  right  by  his  Side,  of  his  young 
Friend;  his  own  nearness  to  Death  by  a 
300 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Wound  which   he   accidentally   received;   his 
deepening  Sense  of  Sin  ;  his  FHght  for  Spiritual 
ReHef  into  the  Monastery ;  his  Disappointment  ; 
his  Direction,  through  the  faithful  Study  of 
God's  Word  and  the  Evangelical  Teachings 
of  the  Vicar-General,  to  Christ  as  the  bur- 
dened Sinner's  only  Saviour;  his  Trust,  his 
living  Faith  in  Christ ;  his  Joy,  and  Peace,  in 
his   newly-found   Saviour;   his   grasping  and 
clear  Apprehension,  from  his  own  Experience, 
of  the  cardinal  Doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  and 
of  Protestantism,   "Justification   by   Faith   in 
Christ  alone,"  thus  fitting  him  spiritually,  by 
the  Holy  Spirit's  leading  of  him,  to  be  the 
Leader  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  World  back 
again  to  a  pure  Apostolic  Christianity;  and 
then,  after  this,  his  ordination  as  Priest;  his 
Visit  to  Rome,  and  the  awful  Revelations  of 
the  Corruptions  of  the  Church,  by  which  his 
honest  German  Soul,  on  that  Visit,  was  made 
acquainted  and  shocked  ;  his  being  made  Doctor 
of  Divinity,  when  he  took  a  solemn  Oath  to 
be   always   true   to   the   Teachings   of   God's 
Word,  and  to  follow  it,  at  any  Sacrifice,  wher- 
ever it  may  lead  him ;  his  Election  as  Professor 
301 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

of  Theolog-y  in  the  University  of  Wittenberg; 
his  righteous  Indignation  over  the  Iniquitous 
Sale  of  Indulgences ;  his  forced  Conflict  with 
the  Pope ;  his  compelled  Antagonism,  more  and 
more,  even  contrary  to  his  own  Will,  to  the 
Church;  his  Burning  of  the  Papal  Bull,  by 
which  he  destroyed  the  last  Bridge  to  a  Recon- 
ciliation with  Rome ;  his  Disputations  with  the 
Roman  Doctors  by  which,  more  and  more,  his 
Eyes  were  opened,  and  he  came  to  sec  the 
wide  Difference  between  Romanism  and  a  Pure 
Christianity ;  his  final  open  and  positive  Rup- 
ture with  the  Church  and  bold  and  defiant 
Attitude  against  her;  his  Summons,  by  the 
Emperor,  before  the  Diet  of  Worms,  where, 
at  the  peril  of  his  Life,  he  stood  up  grandly 
for  Christ,  and  was  true  to  his  Conscience  and 
to  the  Pure  Word  of  God ;  his  Imprisonment 
in  the  Wartburg,  by  which  he  was  providen- 
tially led  to  translate  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the 
greatest  Achievement,  perhaps,  of  his  whole 
Life,  and  itself  sufficient,  if  he  had  done  noth- 
ing else,  to  have  immortalized  him ;  and  a  thou- 
sand other  Occurrences  and  Experiences  in 
his  History,  stretching  down  over  his  whole 
3C» 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

marvellous  Biography :  how  they  all  reveal 
God's  Hand  at  every  Step,  and  all  show  that 
Luther,  the  mighty  human  Actor  in  the  great 
Work  of  the  Reformation,  was  divinely  en- 
dowed, fitted  for,  and  guided  to  and  through 
the  sublime  Reformation  which  he  thus  accom- 
plished. 

He  is,  indeed,  willfully  blind,  and  worse  than 
blind,  who  can  rise  from  the  Reading  of  this 
Life  of  Luther  and  not  be  compelled  to 
acknowledge:  "It  was  not  Luther,  but  God, 
in  and  by  and  through  Luther,  who  wrought 
the  Reformation."  As  Luther  himself  in  his 
grand  Battle-Hymn  sings: 

"In  our  strength  can  naught  be  done — 

Our  loss  were  soon  effected ; 
There  fights  for  us  the  Mighty  One, 
By  God  Himself  elected. 
Ask  you  who  frees  us? 
It  is  Christ  Jesus — 

The  Lord  Sabaoath, 
There  is  no  other  God; 
He'll  hold  the  Field  of  Battle. 

But  the  Hand  of  God,  in  the  Reformation, 
is  seen,  also,  in  many  other  Aspects  of  it. 
303 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

It  is  seen  in  the  many  Powerful  Helpers 
in  the  Work,  which,  in  various  Relations,  were 
raised  up,  on  every  Hand,  to  help  it  forward. 
How  could  the  Reformation  have  ever,  for 
example,  humanly  speaking,  succeeded  with- 
out the  Friendship  and  Mighty  Protection, 
especially  in  its  early  Stages,  of  the  noble  and 
God-fearing  Elector  of  Saxony?  How  could 
Luther  ever  successfully  have  waged  the  Con- 
flict he  did,  had  not  God  raised  up,  to  stand 
by  his  Side  and  help  him,  such  grand  Assist- 
ants as  Melanchthon,  Jonas,  Bugenhagen, 
Brentius,  and  other  illustrious  Co-Workers,  all 
over  Germany;  and  such  men,  also,  in  course 
of  time,  in  other  Lands,  as  Calvin,  and  Cran- 
mer,  and  Knox,  who,  lighting  their  Torch  of 
Truth  at  the  Altar  of  the  German  Reforma- 
tion, bore  abroad  the  blessed  Fire  of  the  Gospel 
into  other  lands,  and  soon  made  all  Europe 
light  with  its  divine  Flame? 

God's  Hand  is  seen,  however,  also  in  the 
Checks  and  Restraints  which  He  then  so  mani- 
festly threw  around  the  Enemies  of  the  Re 
formation,  and  by  which  He  kept  them  back 
from  their  purpose  to  utterly  destroy.  In 
304 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Goveriiment. 

nothing  is  God's  Agenc}*  in  conneclion  willi 
the  Reformation  more  clearly  seen  than  jnst 
in  this  very  respect  of  thwarting  the  plans  of 
the  Enemies  of  the  Reformation.  Its  Preser- 
vation, under  the  Circumstances,  was  simply 
a  Miracle.  It  lived  only  because  God  marvel- 
lously kept  it,  holding  back,  wnth  the  bit  and 
bridle  of  His  Providence,  its  infuriated  Foes, 
saying  to  them:  "Thus  far,  and  no  farther." 
Looking  back  now  upon  that  Reformation 
Period  what  a  Checkmating  of  Forces,  by  the 
Hand  of  God,  cannot  we  everywhere  see ! 
Charles  the  \'.,  had  he  been  free,  would,  at 
once,  have  crushed  Luther,  and,  by  one  stroke 
of  his  Imperial  Sword,  would  have  ended  the 
Reformation.  But  he  was  held  back  by  the 
Providential  Disposing  of  things,  from  doing 
what  he  thus  would  have  done.  At  war  3.f. 
he  then  was  with  the  powerful  King  of  France, 
and  threatened,  as  he  then  was  on  every  hand, 
by  the  Turks,  ancj  having  troubles  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, and  embarrassments  in  Spain,  and 
needing  German  Money  and  German  Soldiers ; 
anxious  as  he  was  to  please  the  Pope  by  de- 
stroying Luther,  he  knew  full  well  that  he 
305 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

could  not  afford  to  offend  the  Lutheran  Princes 
of  Germany,  and  especially  the  Elector  of  Sax- 
ony, to  whom,  indeed,  he  owed  his  Imperial 
Crown,  but  who  was  an  ardent  Friend  of 
Luther  and  of  the  Reformation.  And  hence, 
thus  held  in  check  by  these  Providential  Re- 
straints,  which  God  had  thus  cast,  as  bands 
of  iron,  around  him,  he  was  rendered  harmless, 
and  was  compelled  to  pursue  a  mild  and  vacil- 
lating Course  toward  that  which,  in  his  Heart, 
he  hated,  and  would  gladly  at  one  fell  Stroke 
of  his  Imperial  Power,  have  destroyed.  So 
with  regard  to  the  Pope,  also,  and  to  the 
Church  and  the  Kings  and  Princes,  who  were 
Enemies  of  the  Reformation  and  hated  it  with 
an  almost  fiendish  hate ;  who  stood  eager  with 
all  their  Armies,  and  Wealth,  and  Influence, 
and  Power,  to  ride  it  down  under  their  Iron 
Heel  into  the  dust ;  they  were  all,  in  some 
way,  checked  and  held  hack  from  their  pur- 
poses by  the  Invisible  and  yet  Almighty  Hand 
of  God,  and  by  His  Irresistible  Voice  they 
were  bidden :  "Touch  not  Mine  Anointed  and 
do  My  Prophets  no  harm !" 

And  there  is  further  Proof  that  the  Reforma- 
306 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

tion  was  God's  Work  in  the  fact  that  it  was 
all  accomplished  by  no  other  Weapon  or  Means 
than  simply  God's  Word.  The  one  great 
Means,  above  all  others,  by  which  the  Reforma- 
tion was  effected  was  the  Word  of  God.  Moral 
weapons  alone  were  used  for  a  great  Moral 
End.  God,  in  the  Reformation,  employed  and 
honored,  as  an  Instrument  of  mighty  Spiritual 
Power,  only  His  own  Inspired  Truth;  that 
Sacred  Volume  of  which  Rome  had  long  cru- 
elly robbed  the  World,  but  which  it  was  the 
glorious  Mission  of  the  Reformation  again  to 
unloose,  and,  in  all  its  unchained  and  open 
Freeness,  again  to  give  back  to  Earth's  spiritu- 
ally famished  Millions.  The  Bible,  God's 
Word,  first  made  Luther  free  and  led  him 
into  the  Light  and  Liberty  of  Christ;  and 
then,  by  that  one  single  Instrumentality,  "the 
Sword  of  the  Spirit,"  he  went  forth  and  cut 
off  from  Men  the  Cords  of  Ignorance  and 
Spiritual  Bondage  by  which  every  where  they 
were  bound,  and  gave  to  them  also,  the  same 
Freedom  which  God's  Word  had  given  him. 
That  Word  he  translated;  that  Word  he 
preached  with  inspired  Eloquence  from  the 
307 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

pulpit ;  that  Word  he  simphfied  in  Catechisms 
for  the  Children ;  that  Word  he  expounded 
and  applied  in  countless  printed  Volumes, 
which  were  scattered  every  where  and  read  by 
eager  Millions ;  and  that  Word,  during  the 
Thirty-Nine  Years  of  his  Connection  with  the 
University  of  Wittenberg,  he  taught  as  Theo- 
logical Professor  to  thousands  on  thousands 
of  Students,  who  afterward  became  Ministers, 
and  went  every  where  preaching  that  Word 
which  they  had  heard  from  his  lips,  and  thus 
was  God's  Word  the  Means  by  which  the 
Reformation  was  achieved.  This  was  the 
Weapon  by  which  the  Battle  was  fought. 
Against  Papal  Anathema,  against  Imperial 
Ban,  against  Fires  of  Persecution,  against 
Wealth,  and  Custom,  and  Superstition,  and 
Prestige,  and  Power,  against  all  these  it  won 
its  way  into  Life  and  Victory,  and  planted 
itself  immovably,  as  a  mighty  Moral  and  Reli- 
gious Factor,  in  the  very  Life-Current  of  the 
World.  Not  by  force  of  Arms,  not  by  the 
Power  chiefly  of  Learning  and  Scholarship, 
not  by  the  Friendship  of  Kings  and  Great  Ones 
of  the  Earth,  but  in  spite  of  these,  by  this  one 
308 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

Mighty  Agency  of  the  Word  of  God  ;  the  Word 
of  God  preached,  and  taught,  and  hved,  by 
men  who  themselves  had  experienced  its 
Power;  the  Word  of  God  vivified  and  driven 
home  on  men's  Consciences  and  Souls  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  its  Divine  Author,  by  this  it  was 
that  the  Reformation  was  born,  and  was  car- 
ried on,  step  by  step,  to  glorious  Victory,  and 
thus  proved  itself,  by  this  very  means  of  its 
achievement,  to  be,  indeed,  the  Work  of  God. 
Mighty  Power  of  the  Word  of  God!  Foe  of 
Rome !  Bulwark  of  Protestantism !  Key- 
stone of  the  Everlasting  Arch  of  Christianity ! 
Only  Means  needed  by  the  Church,  then  or 
now,  or  any  time,  for  Defence,  for  Conquest, 
for  Victory !  God's  Word !  Sole  Rule  of  Faith 
and  Life  to  the  Reformers,  sole  Weapon  of 
their  Defence,  sole  Ground  of  their  Comfort, 
Hope  and  Joy,  sole  Instrumentality  by  which 
they  wrought  their  grand  work  for  God  and 
for  the  World!  May  that  simple  Word  of 
God  ever  thus,  also,  be  our  Trust !  And,  with 
Luther,  clasping  the  Bible  to  our  Hearts,  using 
it  as  our  Tower  of  Defence,  let  us  bid  defiance 
to  World  and  Devil,  singing: 
309 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

"And  were  the  World  with  Devils  filled, 

All  waiting  to  devour  us, 
We'll  still  succeed,  so  God  hath  willed — 
They  cannot  overpower  us; 
The  Prince  of  this  World 
To  hell  shall  be  hurled; 
He  seeks  to  alarm, 
But  can  do  us  no  harm ; 
God's  smallest  Word  can  fell  him." 

Passing  now  to  a  final  thought,  I  yet  remark, 

III.  That  in  the  perpetuity  and  growth 

OF  PROTESTANTISM,  SINCE  THE  REFORMATION, 
WE  HAVE  A  STILL  FURTHER  PROOF  THAT  THE 
REFORMATION  WHICH  GAVE  BIRTH  TO  PROT- 
ESTANTISM  WAS  INDEED  THE  WORK  OF  GOD. 

After  four  Centuries  Protestantism  still 
lives.  Through  all  the  mighty  opposition 
which  has,  from  time  to  time,  been  arrayed 
against  her,  she  has  successfully  fought  her 
way.  Through  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
through  the  unceasing  Hostility  of  the  Church 
of  Rome,  through  the  Tortures  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, through  all  the  Wiles  and  Ceaseless 
Activities  of  Jesuitism,  through  the  Enmity  of 
310 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

powerful  kings  and  nations,  through  the  Early 
Strife  of  its  Leaders  and  its  oft-repeated  own 
internal  Dissensions  and  Schisms,  through  the 
Reactionary  Age  of  its  own  Lifeless  Ortho- 
doxy, through  the  long,  dark  night,  in  its  very 
Birthplace,  of  heartless  Rationalism,  through 
all  the  fierce  and  persistent  Assaults  upon  it 
of  Religious  Indifferentism,  of  False  Protest- 
antism, of  Romanizing  Ritualism,  through  all 
these  this  Work  of  the  Reformation  has  bat- 
tled its  Course,  and  still  lives,  a  "Burning 
Bush,"  burning  yet  never  consumed,  because 
God,  its  Divine  Author,  is  in  it,  and  keeps  it, 
and  by  its  very  Preservation  amid  all  these 
mighty  Forces  which  have  thus  been  mar- 
shalled for  its  Destruction  says  to  all :  "This 
Work  of  the  Reformation  is  My  Work.  Pro- 
testantism is  My  child.  And  because  I  am  its 
Preserver  it  lives  and  will  live." 

And  see,  also,  as  another  proof  that  it  is, 
indeed,  God's  Work,  to  what  marvellous  Great- 
ness, under  God's  Blessing,  it  has,  in  these 
Four  Centuries,  attained.  "Protestantism"  is 
to-day  the  Religion  of  the  Civilized  world ! 
Over  one  hundred  millions  of  souls  are  enrolled 
3" 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

under  its  Banners  and  hold  and  confess  its 
precious  Faith,  and  over  four  hundred  millions 
are  under  its  sway  and  influence.  In  Numbers, 
in  Intelligence,  in  Influence,  in  Moulding 
Power  over  the  Governments,  Laws,  Institu- 
tions, Literature,  Commerce,  of  the  World  it 
has  risen  into  Queenly  Supremacy;  and,  to- 
day, sways  its  controlling  Sceptre  over  all  the 
Earth.  God  has  thus  made  her  great.  He 
only  could  thus  have  made  her  great.  And 
thus,  also.  He  has  acknowledged  her  as  His, 
and  has  placed  upon  her  the  Stamp  of  His 
divine  Approbation,  declaring  her  thus  to  be 
a  Tree  of  His  own  Planting,  a  Fountain  of 
Living  Water  of  His  own  Opening,  whose 
Healing  Waters  have  flowed  and  shall  flow 
on  for  the  assuaging  of  the  World's  Thirst 
down  to  the  End  of  Time. 

And,  further :  in  the  very  Character  of  the 
Blessings  which  Protestantism  has  conferred 
ujKin  the  World,  we  have  additional  Proof 
of  its  Divine  Origin  and  have  still  other  Evi- 
dence that  God  only  can  be  its  Author.  How 
numerous,  how  invaluable,  how  elevating,  how 
ennobling  its  blessings  !  Universal  Emancipa- 
312 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

tion  of  Thought,  Freedom  of  Conscience,  Lib- 
erty of  Speech,  of  Press,  of  Education,  of  Gov- 
ernment, of  Worship,  of  Science,  and  Art, 
Progress  in  and  along  all  the  lines  of  Civil, 
Political,  Social,  Moral,  and  Religious  Eleva- 
tion throughout  all  the  World.  Taught  by 
God's  Spirit  and  Word  that  God  alone  is 
Supreme,  and  that  He  alone  is  Lord  of  the 
Human  Conscience,  Luther  held  in  his  Hand 
the  Key  to  the  Lost  Paradise,  and  with  it  re- 
opened again  to  man  its  long-closed  Gates,  and 
bade  him  enter  in  and  again  be  heir  of  all. 
And  now  by  these  Divine  Fruits  of  the  Reform- 
ation men  can  know  it.  These  blessed  Results 
of  Protestantism  attest  its  Divine  Origin  and 
declare  God  and  God  only  to  be  its  Author. 

As  God's  Work  then,  and  not  as  Man's  let 
all  Protestant  Christians  of  every  name,  to-day, 
upon  this  Anniversary  of  the  Reformation, 
recognize  and  hail  the  Great  Event.  It  was 
all  pre-eminently  God's  Achievement,  and  to 
Him  therefore  belongs  the  Glory.  Luther  was 
His  creation:  His  Gift  to  the  whole  world. 
The  Reformation  was  His  Blessing  bestowed 
313 


Joy  in  the  Divine  Government. 

upon   enslaved   Humanity.     Protestantism  is 
the  Rich  Heritage  of  the  Race. 

Let  the  whole  Protestant  World,  the  Entire 
Protestant  Church,  unite  in  praising  God  for  the 
Reformation,  for  Luther,  for  the  Unspeakable 
Blessings  both  of  Civil  and  Religious  Freedom 
which  have  come  down  to  us  all  from  Luther 
and  the  Reformation.  And  let  all  who  bear 
the  Protestant  name  be  true  also  to  their 
Protestant  Christianity :  true  to  the  Great  Doc- 
trines and  Principles  for  which  Luther  and  the 
Reformers  contended  so  bravely.  In  all  the 
Protestant  world  let  Luther's  Name  be  forever 
held  in  highest  honor,  and  by  every  Protestai  '. 
let  God  forever  be  thanked  for  having  raised 
him  up  and  enabled  him  to  accomplish  the 
Mighty  Work  which  he  did. 


THE   END. 


314 


Thcologic.it  Semm.iry  Spot 


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